Never Fear the Night
by SilverHotDog
Summary: Wizeman knew he would never win the war over Nightopia, not with his own creation leading the charge against him and a right-hand man unable to ever kill her. But, with the appearance of a new Visitor and a fresh heart full of the Red Ideya of Courage, the dark god of Nightmare made a decision that would shake the bonds of time itself. To NiGHTS' dismay, her war was not over. NxR
1. Open Wounds and New Beginnings

**A/N:** So I've read a lot of absolutely incredible fanfictions on here (a few of those being NiGHTS ones of course), and even though I can never compare to them in my wildest dreams, I just decided to go ahead and add this story on here. It's mostly made up of headcannons and little muses I've had about the NiGHTS games over a while that I decided to make into a story, but only recently since I really only got back into the games after re-discovering NiGHTS and Reala in Sega Allstars Racing Transformed –which by the way is lege-fuckin'-dary. I honestly don't expect this to be a _great_ story, but if I could write something that people really enjoy reading that would make me more than super-duper happy (because all I really wanna do is just read and write awesome fanfictions). So anyhoodles, here's the crummy little fiction –my first NiGHTS fanfic, might I add (and SWEAR I will finish this story despite how long I know it's going to be!). Hope you all enjoy reading :3

**BETTER SUMMARY STUFF I SHOULD ADD: **POST-JoD SETTING

NiGHTS and Reala will be the eventual and only pairing in this fic, I'm pretty sure. There's no one else to pair up anyway :P

The OC's of mine in this story are a Visitor and a 1st Class Nightmaren, but that'll all be explained throughout of course.

The reason I chose it to be rated M is because it'll contain some violence, swearing, possible blood n' shit and I have no idea how hectic it'll get so I was aiming to be safe. All I know is that it will be a pretty mature story, so M it was. Don't want them young'uns being scarred for life yeah?

**Stuff about stuff: **Regarding the genders of NiGHTS and Reala, I am well aware they are completely genderless –in fact I think it's one of the best things out of the NiGHTS games because it adds so much dimension. Buuuut, I do like to see NiGHTS as female and Reala male, cause I guess that's just how I see them. I'm completely open to viewing them as any other gender, or of course genderless, because that's how they were designed to be viewed

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own any NiGHTS/SEGA content (as if I could come up with something as drop-dead-adorable as that little fucker NiGHTS XD), but I do own the visitor OC in this fic, and some other OC's that will appear as the story progresses. But that's really the only thing I own, everything else is too amazing for my mental capacity that it's almost painfully obvious I didn't create it XD

So, without further ado, please enjoy :D

xXXXXXx

"Well well, NiGHTS, it seems you've gotten yourself foolishly caught by my own work once more. How many times is that now? A hundred? More?" Slitted, cobalt eyes narrowed in on the floating being that remained royally trapped in the centre of the fair sized, crystal-like prison, the female within its ornate design simply giving a bit of an annoyed huff at the words. She floated with her arms folded, leaning back slightly with one leg limply crossed over the other as if the purple-capped Nightmaren was relaxing in some kind of invisible easy-chair. A blatantly bored look crossed her face as her eyes remained anywhere else but on the male addressing her with a bit of a cocky hiss to his words.

"Mmm, something along those numbers I do believe." She feigned a mock-yawn before finally looking at the other, who she could tell was growing easily agitated by her usual attitude towards the fellow Nightmaren. If there was one thing she never grew tired of in their numerous encounters, it was the fact she could annoy the shit out of Reala every single time. It was a bit of a guilty pleasure of hers, in all honesty.

Reala placed his hands on his gold belt and tapped one of his claws against it for a moment, ignoring the complete brush-off of his intimidation act. "If you're this easily caught over and over again, why keep fighting your fate? I find it rather pathetic that you keep allowing yourself to be imprisoned by me, you must really be gullible."

NiGHTS smiled a little, completely unfazed by the words as she pretended to inspect her nails –despite the fact she quite obviously still had gloves on. "A little pretentious, aren't we Reala? You forget that every time you capture me, I always end up breaking out in one way or another. It's quite fair to say that I find it rather sad you keep allowing me to get away." Her smile remained as she glanced at the masked Maren, fighting back a bit of an amused chuckle when his dark lips had twitched in annoyance.

"Nevertheless…" Reala hissed through a tight-lipped scowl, moving to step in-line with the translucent glass of the prison before he reached his hand upwards and dragged a clawed finger down the surface of it. The elegant holding cell was perfectly in-line with a cliff edge, so instead of simply remaining in levitation like he usually did, Reala allowed his feet to touch the grass of the perfectly straight cliff face that remained in-line with the floor of the chamber. He studied the design of the gold and glass container from behind his personalised Persona, seemingly ignoring her with little ease. "This Capture is different than before, it has been specifically designed to keep you within its walls."

"I'm literally shaking." NiGHTS answered simply and with a great over exaggeration of mock-fear. She placed the back of her hand against her forehead, giving a dramatic sigh before pretending to faint backwards –only to perform a complete backflip and end upright once more. "Better do away with me now before you end up regretting your underestimation of my skills!" Her face became serious for a second before she grinned. "_… Again_."

Reala felt the anger within him starting to burn at his spine. "I'd kill you if I could…"

NiGHTS simply chuckled. "Did you that when you're really annoyed you're face goes all scrunched-up like a little kid? So adorable." She looked at him and grinned again, swaying her leg out idly as her eyes flashed with obvious, child-like taunting.

Fed up with her frustrating behaviour Reala suddenly snarled in fury behind his golden Persona, the pale-skinned Maren feeling his hands bail into tight, strong fists at his sides. "You and your damned infantile attitude, it makes me sick that we are of the same rank! I'm only trying to make everything easier for you and you're too damned infuriating to listen to reason!" His slitted eyes became thin as they burned with rage and frustration. Usually Reala was composed and passive, strong in a sense that he wasn't easily affected by anything. Yet that had never been the case when it came to the subject of the other female 1st class. Ever since their creation so very long ago by the god known as Wizeman the Wicked, Reala had not known another being that could affect him in such a drastic way.

It was one of the reasons why he hated her so much, yet all the while on the inside, in a deeper part of his psyche… he admired her.

"Oh please." NiGHTS rolled her eyes at that, suddenly doing a small, graceful forwards-loop in the air before straightening up and into a proud sort of stance. She seemed to easily brush off the silver tongue of Reala's words and instead remained with a tight, slightly annoyed look on her face. "I rebelled against that monster because what he was doing, and what he is _still _doing is just plain wrong! Do you honestly believe everything would be easier if I returned to him, just to be ruled and caged like the rest of you? Nothing would change, Reala, and someone as intelligent as you should be able to understand that." As her deep, cobalt-blue eyes narrowed, she was slightly relieved to see the tension in the other's shoulders begin to relax a little, his face growing the faintest bit softer. She hoped he would see reason this time, but she was also very aware that his opposing resolve to be loyal at all costs was just as strong as her need for freedom was.

Despite their venomous relationship, NiGHTS couldn't deny she also admired his strength and resolve to be completely loyal, especially when it was to a monster as horrible as Wizeman could be.

NiGHTS curled her fingers into relaxed fists and placed her knuckles against her hips, giving her head a bit of a dissatisfied shake before she continued to watch him on the outside of her glass prison. "Wizeman going to do everything in his power to take over all of the worlds, and someone like him shouldn't ever be allowed to possess that much power. It'll only end up tearing the dimensions apart! And without people like me to stand up against him, he'll never be defeated once and for all. It's obvious that Wizeman will keep resurrecting himself no matter how many times he's defeated, and it's obvious that the combined forces of Visitors and myself just aren't enough to stop him for good… All we can do is… _quell _him for a few years at a time. Defeat isn't going to come easily."

A flicker of sadness crossed her azure eyes that were so similar the Nightmaren's that stood before her, watching as Reala did nothing to make her believe he was acknowledging her determined words, her pleading stare. However, NiGHTS thought with a hint of ever-present hope in her chest, he wasn't doing anything to stop her from talking either. Honestly she had no idea where they stood anymore; the act of her rebellion against Wizeman had left many things between her and Reala in shattered pieces and all in all very vague, but at least it seemed they still had something between them. If their tie had been severed completely, Reala wouldn't always listen to her the way he did, even if he acted like he didn't care. He wouldn't allow her to talk and voice her side of the story every time they met. He probably wouldn't even look her in the eye if he completely despised her the way he so claimed… Yet he did, every time. Unfortunately, she just didn't understand why. Reala had every right to completely ignore her, to hate her, but he still listened anyway.

It was times like this NiGHTS simply wished they could go back to the way they used to be. Back when they could look at each other without wondering if the sapphire gazes really held as much hate and tension as they so claimed.

The violet-clad jester's eyes saddened a little, a heaviness in her heart beginning to form like a solid rock and weighing her down as she continued to watch the other. Behind his elegant mask of gold, the symbol of his deep and undying loyalty to the Lord of Nightmares, NiGHTS could see that the slitted eyes of sapphire were also being weighed down with a heavy heart. She hoped desperately that this time would be the last, this fight would be their last fight and that she could finally make the other see her reasoning behind her motives. All she ever wanted was for the other to at least try to understand what she was doing, the reason she'd rebelled to begin with. It would be too much to ask for the other to let go of his hatred for her, after all she did leave without a proper explanation or even so much as a goodbye, and she knew it had probably destroyed a fair amount of him. But just getting Reala to at least understand her reasons for the mutiny would be enough.

NiGHTS moved close to the translucent glass of the cage she was being held in against her will, completely letting go of her irritation for being locked up for perhaps the millionth time and instead focusing on the male of equal height. Her white, satin gloves touched the cool glass, frowning when Reala had moved a step back from the close distance and avoided her gaze. It had caused a spark of hurt to flicker in both their chests. "Reala, surely you must be able to see the truth of the matter here… A being like that will only throw everything out of balance if he is allowed to gain too much power… I'm just trying to make things right… For both worlds." Her eyes refused to leave his, despite the fact the crimson Maren continued to force himself not to look at her. The large, azure-slit eyes that belonged to the female jester filled themselves with sorrow like deep pools; NiGHTS simply wishing things between them could be different. But in the end, all she ever felt like was a dog chasing its tail.

Reala watched her with dark eyes, looking so different to what NiGHTS remembered behind the restricting golden hue of his Persona. Even if he did come to understand her reasoning, NiGHTS knew that he'd changed a lot from the person he used to be.

Reala's dark lips curled in a way that showed off his pointed canines, giving a slight hiss of anger as he stared at her. However he could feel his eyes deceiving him, only reflecting the hurt he could feel within his chest. He hated it all, he hated having to act so cruel and uncaring towards her. But it just sort of… happened. Every single time they met, he'd end up retaliating with venomous words or actions. He didn't even understand why it happened, but he just couldn't stop himself from getting aggressive, even when his mind still remained confused. He knew he'd changed just as much as NiGHTS did, but he was too consumed with the past and her betrayal to bother finding out why.

After a while, all that escaped the male Nightmaren was a quiet sigh. He looked at the grass beneath his feet with a heavy feeling in his chest. "I can't betray Master Wizeman…"

It was at times like this, when he felt his heart beginning to pound and pulse sickening amounts of adrenaline through his system that he had to wonder if he really was following the right path. Where he felt himself wonder if his loyalties were truly just, especially when NiGHTS was the only thing in existence that could make his heart react in such a way.

NiGHTS kept her hands pressed against the clear surface, the violet-capped jester allowing herself to gently lower her feet to the glass floor. When she touched the ground, which was surprisingly a rare occurrence for her, NiGHTS was finally eye-to-eye with the masculine being. Reala glanced up at her and didn't move though following her movement with his eyes, still trying to look as impassive as he could despite his inner conflict. He remained a safe distance even despite the fact they were separated by the glass of the Capture, his hands tensing at his sides and seeming to be the only thing, aside from his eyes, that informed her he wasn't really angry. But he was definitely frustrated… and wounded.

"And I won't ever stop fighting. For the sake of what is right, I'll never allow myself to give up on my morals and go down without putting up one hell of a battle beforehand. And if that means I have to fight you over and over again… I will…" She dropped her head for a moment and sighed heavily, hating the thought of fighting Reala for the rest of eternity. "But I promise you I won't enjoy it." She spoke the last words softly, her hands sliding down the glass and eventually leaving it, instead falling to her sides in bitter defeat.

The vermillion-clad jester felt himself grow a little weaker when she'd taken her hands away, however he held himself without the slightest inclination of allowing his strong demeanour to crumble. It seemed he always had to watch his tongue when he was around her… around the one he used to be so close to. The _only_ one he'd ever been close to. Whenever they were around each other, he sometimes slipped between the past and the present, his heart unable to tell that both NiGHTS and he were not what they used to be anymore.

He scowled in a more uneased manned than that of an angered one, looking away from the other's gaze that seemed almost too powerful. "Then why not leave and go into hiding or something? Why make yourself so easy to track down and capture? You're more than capable of slipping past us…" For a moment, Reala lost his train of thought and instead felt the gravity of his words bring him to a state of sombreness. In all honesty, he couldn't stand those words. He couldn't stand being the one to have to state that ultimate truth, not to NiGHTS anyway.

He couldn't bear the thought of NiGHTS disappearing for good. After all, they fought and argued whenever they were in the same general space, but without that, what would he have? He felt as though he lived for the interaction at times.

Reala groaned a little and massaged a spot on his temple. He felt a tension in his spine that often occurred when he was stressed begin to settle back atop his strong shoulders like his own, personal demon. He sighed heavily for a moment, gazing at the quiet female once more to see she was still staring at him, this time with slightly wider eyes.

Her gaze didn't waver, her mouth slightly agape as if she was searching desperately for the words to answer her old friend… though it was to no avail. She knew her answer to that… but she just couldn't bring herself to say it. What use would it be anyway? It wouldn't do any good… not now.

Before she could say anything however, a sensation that the both of them knew all too well had suddenly washed over them, causing both 1st Class Nightmaren to glance over in a direction that housed a sort of central hub for Visitors, whenever they happened to arrive. Normal dreamers who entered the dimensions of either Nightopia or Nightmare often went unnoticed by them until the landscape and inhabitants would morph and change to suit whatever dream they were caught in at the time. However both NiGHTS and Reala knew this feeling was different. Whichever Dreamers had reached the lands of Nightopia today housed within them the rare and well sought-after Red Ideya of Courage… and that meant that not only the two jester-like Nightmarens were aware that these dreamers were now in the dimension…

It meant Wizeman was now aware as well.

NiGHTS gaze quickly snapped into the other's divided attention, her hands once again touching themselves to the glass of her holding cell, this time however in more of an outwardly pleading manner. "I told you I'd escape again. Visitors have pure hearts; they'll free me from here." She disliked sounding so sure of the idea, feeling as though it simply made her seem cocky and even a little pretentious, but it was out of habit. This happened a fair bit after all.

Reala's eyes narrowed a he glanced back at the female Maren with a hint of animosity for the truth in her words, after all it really did happen an aggravatingly numerous amount of times. This time however, she was imprisoned before meeting the valuable human dreamers, so Reala now had the upper hand in the matter.

"That may be true, but this time is different. You're in there, and so haven't had the chance to sway them with your childish notions. I, however, am out here, and on a constant mission to find red Ideya for Master Wizeman." Reala cracked a mocking grin to the female who was all but trapped, the crimson jester giving a small, darkly amused sort of chuckle as he cracked his individual knuckles evenly. "…By any means necessary, of course."

NiGHTS eyes became wide at the cynical edge to the fellow 1st Class' words. "Oh no Reala, don't you dare think about hurting those children!"

"Maybe I will, maybe I won't." He replied curtly, shrugging his broad shoulders once as if he were completely brushing off the previous moment of closeness they had encountered. He folded his arms. "Depends on how obedient they are, and how easily they hand over their Ideya and sink into a nightmare. You'll never know the outcome, because you're stuck in there." His blatant disregard for the Visitor's safety only caused NiGHTS to grow a look of fury on her face.

"How dare you!" The female's voice became near hysterical with panic over what Reala could do, whether or not he chose to do it. She knew he was much more dedicated to Wizeman than she had ever been, ever since their time of creation, which meant he could have gone to much greater lengths in order to please him. Whether or not he'd kill a Visitor for his master however, she wasn't certain of.

She honestly hoped she was wrong about that thought however.

Reala unfolded his masculine arms and gave her a small, discourteous sort of bow to the female Nightmaren that was all but a sitting duck.

"Ciao."

With that, the crimson jester took his leave and flew off like a bullet through the air, ignoring her angered cries for remorse and reason all the while. NiGHTS wasn't sure whether the other was serious or not, like his arrogant outlook over the matter suggested, but she still didn't want to just sit around and wait to find out. Red Ideya was precious and rare, and even if Reala didn't end up taking it from the new Visitors himself, NiGHTS was fully aware that there were many other Nightmaren who would have no trouble in taking it by force.

"Reala! Don't be an animal!" Her cries went unanswered as the feminine Maren watched him completely disappear, heading in the direction of a small area, outside of the time and space of Nightopia and Nightmare that existed as a central gateway for all Visitors. She felt her heart rate beginning to pound with panic over the thought of harm coming to any being, especially that of a human dreamer. Many humans believed that no real harm could reach them within a dream… but many of them had no real idea what they were saying.

"I just hope that silly old fool of an Owl has explained things, maybe even sent the Visitor somewhere else. Anything that will stop Reala from getting to them first…" She let out an angered noise of frustration and curled her hand into a tight fist, before she drove it into the glass wall of the prison that caged her. It did absolutely nothing however, as she thought it would, aside from make her knuckles ache a little, and only sought to increase her feeling of defeat. She stepped back and gave a heavy sigh, giving a slight groan to herself as he touched her thumb and index finger to her eyes before gently rubbing them a little.

_Of all the times for Reala to trap me in one of these stupid things and it turns out to be right when another child with the most precious Ideya in the dimension shows up! It's been years since that last happened… just my luck. _

She looked around the elegantly designed cage she'd been placed into. _I have to find a way out of this place. _

"Uh, excuse me." NiGHTS gave a loud yelp of surprise at the sudden voice that had emitted behind her, the purple-clad jester whirling around with slightly wide, cat-slit eyes and only being overcome with even more shock when her gaze had settled on the person it belonged to. She froze in place, despite the fact she was gracefully floating as usual, and wondered for a moment if she'd gone mad with her own panic. Her chest heaved a little from the scare the other had given her, and for a while all the Nightmaren did was stare at the newcomer. All in all, she'd never seen anything like it.

From personal experience, NiGHTS understood that the human before her was male… however that was the least of her curiosities. She'd only ever met children in all her years, but she had never personally met and adult one before, especially in the Night Dimension. She figured it was mainly because Human adults were usually disconnected from their imaginations, and therefore didn't dream as much. Maybe it was because of this they didn't have the power to cross into Nightopia and Nightmare, but NiGHTS didn't know for sure.

Yet, to her surprise, this human that stood before her appeared to be an adult… which left her rather stunned for how to react. She could always relate to children, after all she had a similar personality to them and found them easy to talk to. But to this encounter, she was stuck for what to do. Was she meant to act like her usual energetic self, or was she meant to act differently? She was aware that most adults didn't have much in common with younger children; did that mean she'd have to act differently? Approach the first impression with a different attitude?

The thought of having to act as anything but her cheerful, bright and frankly _weird _-though in a good way- self made NiGHTS a little uncomfortable.

The human male before her seemed a bit awkward for what to do, being just as shocked as she was and unable to say much in order to justify his appearance. He was tall, probably only a few inches taller than two NiGHTS put together (or at least that's how the Nightmaren found herself describing it as). His hair looked soft and flicked backwards in various strands, however it seemed to be fading out of a healthy blonde and into a white-silver hue. Strange though, she could tell it wasn't from age. His skin seemed rather pale too, causing his soft, teal-coloured eyes to stand out the most of all. He was dressed in a simple pair of slightly faded jeans and an ash grey hooded jumper, and NiGHTS couldn't help but notice how out of place the human seemed in such a bright world like Nightopia.

Fearing it was just a hallucination out of her own panic, NiGHTS tilted her head slightly. She opened her mouth to say something, but afterwards shut it. She didn't know how to start off the conversation, and it would probably be a little too abrupt if she requested for them to Dualize in order to free herself straight away, especially without giving a decent explanation of… well, everything beforehand. And time was of the essence, if this was the only Visitor in the Night Dimension, it meant Reala would be back at any moment.

And if that happened before she could be given a chance to escape, it meant he'd drag her and possibly the Visitor back to Wizeman kicking and screaming if he had to.

She searched her head for something, anything that could end the awkward silence. After a while, she finally managed to start with: "Are you… a human?" It was a silly question because she was sure the taller being was most definitely a human, they weren't hard to mistake after all, but it was better than nothing.

The pale haired man before her perked up a little in surprise at the question; hardly expecting a voice as proper and energetic as that to escape this unknown creature before he gave a bit of a crooked smile. "If I'm not then my parents must have been telling me some serious lies growing up." From her voice alone, he felt as if the purple, jester-like entity could be trusted.

The Nightmaren's crystal blue eyes widened a little. A joke this early in their meeting? It made her feel a little better. NiGHTS felt herself relax a little, watching as the tall male gently itched the side of his jaw, at a patch of the small, dark stubble that lined his angular jawline. In an idle part of her head, she mused silently about how she'd never personally met a human with facial hair before.

"How did you get here? I mean, without proper explanation and guidance I'm fairly certain this world can seem a bit strange." Nights allowed herself to slowly move forward until she was gracefully drifting just beyond the crystal wall of her encasement. Despite their abrupt meeting, NiGHTS had a feeling she could let her guard down around this being, and between the two of them the feeling was rather mutual. She'd heard that Adults could be dangerous, because the natural innocence of their childhood was often lost completely. Hence the reason Adults were completely rare and even unheard of in the Night Dimension. But this man didn't seem dangerous at all, especially on his first impression. It was something about his pale eyes… they almost confused her.

The man before her pocketed his hands and gazed around the bright world, a tiny, however noticeable smile gracing his naturally pale features. NiGHTS watched the man closely, still studying him and how different he was. After a few moments, the fair-haired being gave a small shrug of his shoulders as his eyes became soft, seemingly very pleased. "It's nicer than where I come from, what I usually see most days." For a moment he appreciated how warm the sunlight in this world felt. "Oh, and I was taught enough things by that old Owl in that fountain area. He seemed nice enough and told me a good general overview about this place."

NiGHTS grinned, her spirits beginning to perk up once more. It was a relief to know this human wasn't completely disoriented by how different Nightopia was. "Let me guess, this owl wore an old man suit, glasses and had a tendency to ramble on and on without stopping for a break?"

The pale haired man suddenly smiled brightly. "I slipped away while he was waffling on about how the whole timezone works in this place. He seemed nice and all, but was a little exhausting. He reminded me a lot of my grandpa."

NiGHTS' grin suddenly widened. "I think we're going to get along just fine." She suddenly looked away, sensing that something was once again amiss in the air. That could have meant that Reala was back, and most likely pissed off over having a Visitor slip by him, but she wasn't certain. There was no time to wonder however. She gazed back at the human with slightly worrying eyes, touching her gloved palms to the cool glass of the Capture as she knew they had to leave and escape the crimson jester's wrath. "Listen, in the next few moments things will probably become very strange for you and everything is going to pass you in a rushed way, but I promise if you bear with me I'll explain everything later. Would you please help me?"

The pale haired man's teal eyes widened a little in surprise over the desperation flooding her slightly accented words and the way she was looking at him, her hands pressed against the glass of her obvious prison and her slitted, cobalt eyes wide with fear. He had no idea what was making this entity so tense, but he didn't seem to find much reason to decline. If this was all a dream like the Owl had claimed, or so he gathered after drifting in and out of attention during their talk, then he was pretty much up for just going with the flow of things.

After a moment's thought, the taller human shrugged his shoulders and removed his hands from the warm pockets of the ash-grey attire. "Yeah, alright. I'll certainly help if you need it." His eyes were soft and understanding as he smiled with a gentle nod. In that moment, NiGHTS noticed that the man's eyes seemed to be quite tired.

She nodded with a grateful smile on her face before backing away from the glass of the cage walls. "Thank you! I promise I'll answer any questions you have about this place as soon as we're out of danger."

The adult frowned a little. _In danger?_

"This thing I'm encased in is called a NiGHTS Capture –famously named, but it's designed to keep me inside. It doesn't affect people like you, so you can walk right through its walls." She remained simply floating in the centre of the containment, her lack of words and seemingly patient, waiting look informed the human that it was his turn to move.

The blonde frowned a little as he glanced down at the gap that remained between the stable cliff he stood on and the translucent flooring of the 'NiGHTS Capture'. It was at least two feet wide, and the drop down to the earth below was easily around a storey high. Not so bad, but if he were to misjudge the jump he could easily break a bone or two. But, then again, if this was just a dream, could he really get hurt that severely?

"You don't have to be wary, I mean at this height I'm sure it's a bit daunting, but you can do it." The taller being glanced at the Nightmaren as she smiled at him and shot him a double thumbs-up, trying to reassure the obvious unease he was starting to feel over the high drop. He chuckled a bit nervously and rubbed at the back of his neck.

"Nah, it doesn't bother me too much… I think" He was half-lying of course, but his apprehension wasn't going to stop him. He hadn't had anything this interesting happen to him in a long while, so he was determined to see how long he could play it out for.

He stepped forward to the very edge of the cliff and decided not to glance down in case it resulted in vertigo, instead stretching his hand out and testing to see what the smaller being meant when she'd explained the concept of the Capture before. To his surprise, his fingers had phased through the glass-like wall with ease, as if it didn't even exist and instead was just a mirage. His eyebrows furrowed a little in interest as he studied his hand gingerly, before forming it into a point with his index finger as he glanced at the floor. "And what of the floor? I won't just fall right through it and die? Because that would really ruin my day…"

NiGHTS could help but chuckle in amusement. This being was certainly thoughtful about the little things; he didn't seem as trusting as a child. Most of the younger Visitors had a tendency to just go ahead with things without properly thinking them through, ignorant to the possibilities and outcomes. They were completely innocent, after all.

"Certainly not, that would be just cruel! And I was in no way created with cruelty in my blood. I'm not one for playing horrible tricks on people." She allowed herself to gently lower from levitation until her strange boots touched the floor. She smiled and placed her hands against her hips, tapping her foot once against the solid flooring for good measure. "It's just as sturdy as the ground you're on." The man before her remained silent for a moment, his hand on his chin in thought before he nodded once.

"Alright, I guess I might as well just go with all of this. Overthinking things never helped anyone." He pushed his sleeves up loosely before keeping his eyes to the floor of the Ideya Palace, ignoring the gap and instead prepping himself for the small leap he'd push himself into performing. It wasn't that much of a fantastic feat… at all. But for someone like him, he knew it could be risky.

NiGHTS nodded and watched closely as the man seemed to be mentally prepping himself, and for a while she wondered about his whole deal. The arms that were now exposed seemed somewhat thin for an adult, at least compared to most of the one's she'd seen in the real world and especially considering the fact the thick jumper he wore had made them seem bigger. She wondered just how much there was to the human, considering he'd probably lived for twice the amount of years of all her other Visitor's she'd met. She wondered how much more he'd seen, how much more he knew than the countless other, younger dreamers that came to this world. More so, she wondered how this man possessed the Red Ideya of Courage, and what had caused him to gain it to begin with.

She decided he was definitely interesting, worth learning from. And, ultimately, he had to be protected. She had a sickly, gut-wrenching feeling that Reala would do all he could to take the rare Ideya from this being, he wouldn't even spare a second thought over what the adult could possibly teach them, the interesting things he'd have to his name and appearance. The other 1st Class never paid attention to the bigger things, only the orders he was given from the God of Nightmares. What was worse was the fact he never used to be so close-minded.

It saddened NiGHTS to think about how far gone the crimson jester now was.

It was only when the adult had landed right before her with a small stumble and a hushed swear did NiGHTS recall reality. She snapped her head back up to meet the sudden appearance of the other, the feminine Nightmaren being a bit taken aback by the fact they were no longer separated by glass. She was also very relieved however, knowing they would both be out of danger soon enough.

The blonde stood up and brushed his knees down slightly, having half-landed on them after the leap of faith and inner terror. "Well that was certainly terrifying." He managed a weak sort of smile despite the fact his heart was having a royal fit in the confinements of his chest. For a moment he looked at how far the ground was through the glass flooring, feeling a little disoriented from it. Standing straight before brushing his hands off on his hooded jumper and outstretching an arm in a sign of good gesture, the adult Visitor smiled a little. "Now that we're properly acquainted, my name's Memphis. Weird I know, everyone tells me, but believe me I've had plenty of time to grow used to it." He chuckled a bit at his own joke, causing NiGHTS to bow gracefully before grinning energetically herself.

The violet-clad Maren spared no hesitation in taking the man's hand and shaking it once, remaining with her head held high even despite the fact the being before her still stood at around a full head taller –even with the female floating above the floor. "Sounds like a good name to me! It's catchy, and I've certainly never heard anything like it. A hint of uniqueness is always good to any person." Their hands dropped from the greeting touch and NiGHTS placed both gloved knuckles at her hips. "As for my name, it's-"

"NIGHTS!" Both the startled Nightmaren and the human had turned at the infuriated snarl of her title, their unified eyes of teal and azure settling instantly on the utterly _fuming_ gaze of the previously M.I.A jester.

NiGHTS spared a moment to turn back to the man with a blank look on her face, before pointing with a thumb to the masked Maren that remained floating several metres away from the Capture. "…Yeah, that. Capital N, little I, capital G-H-T-S." She turned to the icy glare of Reala's feline-slit eyes and gave him a bit of a mockingly annoyed gaze, the side of her mouth turning upwards in an obviously amused smirk. "You stole my thunder Reala!"

"I'll tear that smile right off your face!" Reala almost screamed at his voice cracked with fury, his fingers tensing in a way that made his curved talons catch the sunlight in a deadly display of ferocity. Inside the glass prison, NiGHTS turned swiftly to the taller human and frowned a little.

"We'd better get out of here before his bite becomes worse than his bark." She itched the side of her face a little as she seemed to become rather disheartened, the human dreamer before her straightening in surprise at the words.

"You know that guy?" He glanced at the soaring, jester-like being that seemed to be focusing his power in an unmoving, offensive stance. "He seems terrifying."

"You don't know the half of it." NiGHTS murmured as her thoughts drifted elsewhere for a moment. She shook her head free of the thoughts for a moment however and snapped back into focus, quickly remembering the danger they were in now that Reala was blinded by his own rage. She looked the pale-haired being dead in the eye with seriousness as her hand raised and remained opened before him. "This is the part that will probably have to be explained after it's all over. Once we get out of here I promise I'll make sense of it all, okay?"

Memphis watched her for a moment, his eyebrows knitting together in slight hesitation as his teal-clad gaze moved from her eyes to her hand and remained there. He gathered she wanted him to copy her movements and that it was probably going to lead to something very different –hence her need for action without any explanation. After a moment, he shook off his unease and raised his hand to greet hers, a soft, cyan-coloured light beginning to emit between their palms as they grew close together. The teal-eyed Visitor pulled back slightly in shock over the supernatural reaction to their close contact, having it feel very different from before. Unlike the simple handshake, he could physically feel a spark igniting between their outstretched limbs that seemed to represent itself as a palm-sized flame of electricity, even traveling further up his arm to somehow settle itself into his chest. He'd never experienced anything like it, and he had a good feeling it was leading to something even more spectacular.

"You don't have to worry; I'm going to lend you some of my power in return for you lending me a portion of your courage. Working together we can escape easily." Her eyes didn't deceive the truth of her words as the taller male stared at her for a short while, holding his hand away from her. His chest filled with a deep breath that only pushed through his hesitation, their hands connecting not a moment later as both beings felt themselves caught in a warm, electrifying light. Without any explanation, the Dualization of NiGHTS and Memphis had transpired.

And nothing could have prepared the Nightmaren for the reaction that had come from it.

"JESUS FLIPPING CHRIST I CAN SEE FOREVER AND I'M SUDDENLY WEARING A LOT OF PINKS AND PURPLES." From his control over her body, NiGHTS had heard Memphis suddenly explode with his voice a few octaves higher than the norm. He outstretched one of NiGHTS legs and looked at it for a while, obviously having trouble comprehending their duel form while the Nightmaren simply let the man go. She kept her attention on Reala all the while however, who had begun to form a large, deadly ball of gold energy within the palms of his clawed hands.

From her side of the control, NiGHTS' eyes narrowed. "I hate to cut the craziness short, believe me it's the most interesting reaction a Visitor has had in a while. But until we're away from that lunatic, I'm going to have to take control of this Dualization."

Memphis became aware of himself once again. "_Dualization?"_

"You aren't going anywhere, NiGHTS! I'm going to personally rip the Red Ideya from that Visitor's heart and drag you back to Wizeman myself!" His voice snapped with rage as his clawed hands twitched with the gathering energy between his palms. "I refuse to fail him again!" Reala roared as he suddenly lifted his hands above his head, raising the globe-sized orb of glowing power with it as it almost doubled in size.

From within the prison that was now ineffective due to their Dualization, Both NiGHTS and Memphis's eyes widened in unison as the crimson 1st Class threw his hands downwards and hurled the massive ball of deadly energy directly at glass monument. With an almost deafening crack, the attack had reached the NiGHTS Capture and knocked it from its anti-gravitational position above the earth, causing it to begin to fall.

Forgetting the situation for a moment, Memphis had given a slight yelp of surprise and curled into a ball of protection, shielding their head with crossed arms as he awaited the solid glass to smash into their synchronised form. However, at the command of NiGHTS all around his mind, the man had opened their eyes just in time to see the crystal exterior of the Capture fall to the grassy earth below them and suddenly shatter with an ear-splitting thunder. From somewhere in their combined physical bodies, Memphis swore he could feel the female Maren wince at the sight.

"Whoah…" The human dreamer mused in a mixture of shock and awe. Before he'd even had the time to marvel over the intensity of the masked attacker's abilities, NiGHTS had kicked him out of a stupor as she overthrew his control over their Dualization and turned back to the enemy.

"There's no time to become idle! Reala isn't one to mess around and he'll do away with us both if given the chance!" Her deep, feline eyes narrowed with a heavy tension over the words. No matter how much she wished it weren't true, she had a deep understanding that those words wouldn't change. The fact Reala had destroyed his own Capture just to try and stop her was proof enough of that.

Her body straightened and took a proud stance as she placed her hands on her hips, her cobalt eyes becoming stronger as she frowned through tight lips. "That's enough Reala. You've lost this round, so just let the Visitor and myself go."

"You think I'll just let you go again? And have Wizeman even more furious with me?" He pulled his body into a readied stance, claws flexed out in front of him and his eyes narrowing in on the violet jester like a hunter in for the kill. His eyes grew thin, even slightly pained at his next, well thought-over words. In a deeper part of himself, one that Reala wasn't entirely aware even existed, he felt a painful ache begin to reveal itself.

_I'm not letting you get away again… I can't._

He was relieved to find out NiGHTS hadn't noticed his lapse in attention, the female keeping her hands on her hips strongly as her shoulders loosened. She was well aware that with the visitor's Ideya to help her, Reala wasn't going to be capturing her today. The fact he seemed so desperate not to fail in his mission and anger Wizeman sent a pang of pain through her heart however, causing the purple jester to frown painfully. She took a breath and kept herself strong, knowing that if Reala was able to spot even the tiniest bit of doubt within her he would surely use it to his advantage. The crimson jester had always been talented at things like that.

"Be sure to tell Wizeman that I have absolutely no intention of returning to his army. Any time soon or _ever _again. And no amount of trickery or imprisonment will change my mind!" As she spoke without fear before the other Maren, she could tell Reala was almost at his limit again his eyes were blazing with that much anger. To a voice that only reached herself however, NiGHTS felt herself pleading to the other. "And please, this time… try to see reason…"

NIGHTS knew it was idiotic to think Reala would ever stray from their creator's side, but that didn't mean her heart listened.

With one last, heated glare between the two 1st Classes, NiGHTS gave one small, final nod to the other before taking her leave as quickly as she could. She knew Reala was most likely going to explode with anger over the failed attempt to capture her for about the 200th time running, but she had a feeling he knew he'd lost this round. He didn't give chase and instead watched her go, his clawed fingertips digging into the palms of his hands so fiercely he was sure he'd felt the skin split apart and coppery blood begin to spill over. He felt so completely corrupted with anger that his vision was fading in parts, and no matter how much his loyal mind screamed at him to chase after the traitorous entity and finish the job for Wizeman's sake… he just couldn't do it. He had lost, he was well aware of that, but his usual drive to do whatever he could to redeem himself and keep attempting to capture the girl had just… fallen apart.

Reala slowly released his hands and felt his palms begin to sting, the male Nightmaren turning when he'd heard a chorus of beating wings. Behind him, two of the lesser Nightmarens, barely 2nd classes, had arrived upon seeing the defeat. When the higher-ups were assigned missions, they was also usually given subordinates to bring along in case something happened, and most of the time it was two or three 3rd classes that rode on large, multi-coloured bird-like Nightmarens that were assigned to Reala. The cyan-eyed jester personally never liked the tag-alongs; he'd always preferred doing things alone.

Ever since his original partner had defected, that was.

"Lord Reala," one of the subordinates began slowly, fearing that the 1st Class' temper would flare up and have him take it out on either one of them, "do we give chase after the traitor or…?"

"Leave, now." Reala hissed suddenly, venom coating his words as his eyes nearly cut them in half right then and there. The lesser Nightmaren seemed to pull back slightly, his eyes becoming wide with both fear and confusion as hands that gripped the reigns of his winged mount became tight and nervous.

"B-but sir, the orders from Master Wizeman…" The smaller being would have said more if it weren't for the sudden vicious backhand that had struck him across the face, almost knocking him off his saddle and causing the birds to begin screeching and beating their wings in panicked fashions. Reala turned and snarled at the two with a deadly glare in his eyes, causing both to instantly become silent and fearful.

"_I _was given the order from Master Wizeman, _not_ you. In which case _I'll _be the one to deal with him when I get back. Don't you dare ever forget your place like that again or you'll be lucky to remain with your head between your shoulders."

The lower class remained at attention with his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open from shock, his cheek still red before he rubbed it slightly. The Nightmaren bowed quickly when Reala had given him all but a deathly cold gaze. "Y-yes, Lord Reala…"

The second of the two bowed as well. "Forgive us sir."

Sick with the display of absolutely zero backbone, Reala almost spat off to the side in disgust. He threw his hand out and turned away slightly. "Get out of my sight. I'll return to Nightmare soon enough."

The two subordinates bowed once more, filled with skittish attitude and terror over the absolute power of the 1st Class. They spared no time in turning and flying off as quickly as their birds could carry them, leaving Reala to seethe in utter annoyance over how pathetic the lower classes were becoming. No one ever stood up to him anymore, there was nobody who had so much as a spine in the Nightmaren Army that could give him a fair fight.

Not since she had left.

Sighing heavily as he felt the sickening wave of failure wash over him, Reala rubbed his eyes a little for lack of anything better to do. How was he going to kneel before his creator, the God of Nightmare, for the millionth time and explain that he'd failed again?

But more so… why had he failed again? He seemed so sure that this time he'd finally capture the traitor. Reala closed his eyes and tried to find some explanation for it.

_Was it because I wanted her to get away… again?_

Reala turned away from the light of the sun and rubbed his temple with his clawed fingers, groaning to himself out of obvious frustration. He knew he was never going to hear the end of it from his Master, and what was worse he didn't have a good enough excuse as to why NiGHTS had slipped through their fingertips again. He moved his hand to cover his eyes, the light of the world beginning to irritate his senses.

_What is going on with me?_

After a while, Reala turned back to the direction NiGHTS had retreated in with the visitor, and for once in his life he didn't care. He didn't feel the need to give chase.

He was so exhausted of the routine.

He wondered where NiGHTS had gone, where she always went after escaping danger. In this world she never had the need to hide, she really was free. And it was at times like this he had to wonder if it was all worth it. If everything NiGHTS was saying was true, that Wizeman really was the enemy, then what exactly was he doing? What was he _supposed _to do?

Feeling an ache beginning to form itself in his head, Reala shook free the thoughts. This wasn't the time to think about that, he knew if he lingered too long, Wizeman would only become impatient. For a moment, he spared one more glance to the horizon that seemed so far away. The horizon that somewhere held his old friend.

"We'll never truly be divided, will we, NiGHTS?"

* * *

For the entirety of the escape, NiGHTS hadn't really said anything, thoughts for the other 1st Class consuming her entire attention as the Dualized beings soared over various landscapes of Nightopia. For a while, the blonde man didn't say much either, mainly immersed in the wonder the new world caused him to even notice how quiet the female was being. Though, he'd grown aware that something was causing her tension a while before, however he felt unable to bring up any words to try and spark up a conversation between them. He was still reeling from the whole ordeal of waking up in a world so unlike his own, but felt as though he was supposed to just keep quiet and get used to it.

He'd lived a lot of his life by those rules anyway.

"So…" Memphis started slowly, deciding to just go with whatever came to mind. "This place is called Nightopia, or something?"

The words completely snapped NiGHTS out of her heavy stupor as the female maren stopped in their pursuit of no particular destination. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to space out like that; I suppose I do owe you a better explanation, don't I?" The violet-capped jester quickly descended to the grassy earth below them and touched her hands to the perfect diamond of Red Ideya on her chest, quickly separating the two from their combined form and bowing a little apologetically. She felt incredibly guilty for having become that absorbed in her own deep thoughts about the meeting with the other Nightmaren, but she would have been lying if she denied it to have stirred some otherwise forgotten feelings.

Stumbling a little from their sudden split, Memphis offered a weak smile. "Don't apologise for that, everyone gets caught up in their own stuff from time to time." NiGHTS nodded slowly, but she still couldn't deny how stupid she felt for spacing out that severely. It rarely ever happened to her at all. She straightened and touched a hand to her chest before offering the man a smile, deciding to ignore whatever was going on in her head and instead carry out the usual meeting she'd have with Visitors.

"Nevertheless, you deserve a proper introduction! As I said, my name is NiGHTS, it's a pleasure to meet you -properly this time." She bowed elegantly before standing proudly once more, sweeping her hand out in the air as she turned to the landscape around them. "And this world is known as Nightopia –or The Night Dimension, as the locals call it. But I'm sure Owl explained this all to you when you first got here, right?"

The blonde man smiled in amusement and nodded, pocketing one of his hands as he gazed around the forest-type area they had landed in. "Yeah, I remember the names. He was a bit hard to listen to without your thoughts wandering though."

NiGHTS chuckled and nodded in a wholehearted agreement. "You got that right. But you don't have to worry about getting bored anymore; you're teamed up with me. Your utterly awesome and devilishly handsome guide to the personal world of your dreams!" She danced circles around the taller male, her graceful levitation leaving small, shimmering spots in the air as Memphis followed her with his eyes. Arriving back to her original position, NiGHTS struck a pose that reminded the human of a certain superhero that favoured red underwear worn on the outside of his spandex suit, and he could help but chuckle to himself at the thought.

"So I _am_ dreaming?" He looked around again with his teal eyes. "This has to be the most vivid dream I've ever experienced." Night placed her hands on her hips as she smiled. For an adult he didn't seem very different from a kid –at least in the 20-question aspect of them.

"Close, but not quite. This world is in fact real, as real as the world you come from, the two are just divided to most people –which is why most of your world isn't aware of this one's existence." She moved her arms to fold in front of her and turned away from him slightly, smiling into the sunlight that graced her skin with warmth and tranquillity. "The only way for a human to cross into the Night Dimension is through sleep, through dreams."

"And the landscape and people change with every different dreamer, right?" Memphis added from the thing he remembered the owl telling him, the pale blonde starting to piece everything together. He didn't exactly believe any of this was real of course; it seemed a little too fantastic to possibly be the truth. But he didn't exactly mind, it was an interesting experience. He hadn't dreamed like this since he was a kid.

NiGHTS turned back to the blonde and nodded with an approving smile. "Smart one, you have a good memory. And, chances are some of the regions in this place have already been created from pieces of your heart and memories." She grew a thoughtful look as her azure eyes studied him, an interesting thought suddenly crossing her mind. "Actually, I'm curious to know what kind of worlds you've created. I've never seen what adults dream about."

The man before her tilted his head a little, an eyebrow rising in curiosity as he slipped both his hands into his pockets –apparently a bit of a nervous habit of his. "Wait, are you saying the dreams of adults don't happen in this place? Why's that?"

NiGHTS sighed and allowed her hands to go limp, the female maren shrugging a little for lack of anything better to do. "I'm not exactly sure why. I actually haven't really personally met an adult before –you're the first. But Owl told me once that it could be due to the fact adults dream differently to younger people like teens and kids. Something to do with the fact their imagination is gradually lost over time, and they become disconnected with this dimension." NiGHTS frowned and shook her head slowly. "It's a shame really."

"Well I can definitely understand that…" Memphis bowed his head a little as he thought about her words. This was turning out to be one hell of an elaborate dream. Still he had to wonder, if adults were rare here, why had he made it into the world?

For a few moments, silence gripped the two beings and became their only language. Until NiGHTS had decided the world had become too quiet and perked up once again.

"Anyhow, feel up for a search of Nightopia in order to find an octopus that likes to hang out in pots and occasionally poops out rings?" The look Memphis was giving the female caused NiGHTS to explode into a grin as she floated close to him, extending a gloved hand out with a rather refined air to her movements. If there was anything that could pull her out of a down mood, it was messing with Octopaw. "It's one heck of a riot despite how I described it, trust me!"

The man itched the side of his jaw slightly as he tried to comprehend what exactly the purple jester was going on about, but after a while he simply gave in. The honesty in her face spoke for itself, there was no doubt about that. And so finally, with a shrug of his shoulders and a rather peaceful disposition, the teal eyed man simply smiled and nodded.

"Sure, you haven't seemed to steer me wrong as of yet… Let's go on one heck of an adventure."

Little did he know how how much of a wild adventure he'd just agreed to be taken upon, what they were _all_ about to be taken upon.

xXXXXXx

**A/N: **Was it alright? Worth continuing? Because I have no idea. Please R&R and tell me what you think!

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to read my lousy writing :3


	2. Limited Usefulness, Unable to Kill

**A/N: **Sooooo, yeahhh, I'm not sure how this is going so far. I'm just sort of winging it with the adapting around all the main ideas for it

**DISCLAIMER: **OBVIOUSLY I DON'T OWN NiGHTS CAUSE IF I DID I'D BE A HELL OF A LOT RICHER AND OWN A GIRAFFE NAMED MR. SPOTS

Anyway, onto the reaction of everyone's favourite crimson jester, Reala! And guest starring his socially inept and possibly clinically insane friend, Jackle! Because we all love a bit of crazy-ass, gamblin' Jackle.

xXXXXXx

Reala walked in complete silence through the dark halls of the Castle of Nightmare.

Ever since he'd returned the perpetual world of nightfall, the realm of Nightmare, Reala hadn't stopped in his forward pursuit towards somewhere he knew could be alone with his thoughts. He wasn't sure what the feeling was that plagued him, a first he could have sworn it was hate… but the more he thought on it he realised it wasn't that. The intensity was there, burning into him like any kind of fury would, but this feeling deep inside his chest was somehow different from all the other times he'd been completely blinded by rage.

This feeling was, in a way, hurting him.

This made things even more confusing for the crimson-capped Maren. To all who passed him in the halls, he seemed calm and collected as usual, however deep in thought. But inside his head, and inside his heart, there was a tempest running its course and weakening his attention to anything else. He was grateful that the halls of Nightmare were quiet this time of night, probably because almost the entirety of the castle was asleep. And, to his relief, it seemed the ever-so-insane personality of Jackal hadn't found him yet, knowing the other wasn't one to sleep very often just like he was. The other Nightmaren definitely made for an interesting time when he wasn't being too over the top, and wasn't bugging the absolute hell out of him, but it was always nice to have some peace and quiet.

Unlike his usual means of travel, Reala had a tendency to walk instead of glide everywhere within the Nightmare castle –unless he was in a hurry. It just made him feel a little more at peace. The sound of his own, slightly echoing footsteps calmed him. It made him sure of the fact he was still in existence.

Plus, he knew it would only be a matter of time before he was summoned by Wizeman and most likely verbally abused for failing in his mission once again, so he was trying to make the most out of the silence he still had left.

When he rounded the familiar corner that would lead to the one place he knew he could be truly at peace, Reala stopped and gazed around the great stretch of hall before him. Along one of the longest walls, several massive windows with dark, velvet curtains split the wall and allowed the natural, bright light of the moon to flood the inner castle with a soft, pale afterglow. The opposite wall was covered in various markings and smooth, stone-coloured material.

The moonlight was a little softer at this time, which showed the inhabitants of the world that it was night and the time for sleep. During the 'day' of Nightmare, the moonlight would shine brighter and give off more energy, as there was no official sun in the dark world. Perpetual nightfall was a little confusing, but having lived as long as Reala had with it, the routine of it wasn't too hard to get used to.

The crimson jester sighed a little to himself, remembering how one of the only people in Nightmare who had ever seemed to have a problem with the everlasting darkness was in fact NiGHTS. However as soon as his mind had wandered over the memory he'd quickly cleared it from his head, growing annoyed by the fact he'd even spared a moment to think about that girl, that… _traitor._

His footsteps seemed a little louder than usual as he continued on. Reala had walked down this hallway countless times, never really thinking much of it before that moment. There was a time when he would do all he could to ignore his feelings about it, even go as far as to try and avoid walking down it completely. But he hadn't felt that way in a very, very long time… Until now, that was.

He'd always hated this hallway because at the very end, facing each other on the opposing walls was his and her rooms. They were completely opposite, from the colour, to the design, even down to the smallest possible detail. His door was a dark, bloody crimson colour, and all around the edges there were black, tribal-like tattoo markings that resembled black flames. Although with her door being a deep, royal violet colour with swirling, almost floral-like designs of pure gold decorating its surface, the two really did seem to be complete opposites. All the doors shared was the fact they were created from the same sort of timber, and all they ever seemed to do was remind the solitary 1st Class how different the both of them were to each other. Ever since their creation, they had always been so different…

When blue eyed Maren had reached the end of the hallway, Reala remained in the centre of the hall for a moment, seemingly caught between both gravities of the contrasting entryways. He gazed upwards at the wall that kept both doorways apart from each other, his turquoise stare sweeping over the huge, black markings that had been designed to look like one of Wizeman's eyes. Walls like this existed all over the castle of Nightmare. It was like a constant reminder that the god was always watching over the dark world, and its inhabitants.

Reala frowned a little. He was never exactly sure how he felt about the idea of constantly being under surveillance. Some of the only places in the castles that Wizeman couldn't see into were the personal quarters of the 1st and some of the 2nd Classes. Wizeman was a strict leader, but he did understand the boundaries of privacy –so he allowed his creations complete and utter freedom in their own living spaces away from his watchful eyes. Reala gave a small frown as he vaguely remembered a light-hearted conversation both he and NiGHTS had been caught in many years ago, about how the thought of being watched all the time unnerved her.

The blue-eyed male lowered his gaze a little. _You called me crazy for being so calm about it._

Before he'd even realised, Reala had found himself staring at her door, and wondering about things. His eyes trailed the edges and swirling patterns of gold along its surface, still gleaming beautifully in the light of the moon despite the fact it hadn't been touched in decades. He winced a little when his eyes stopped at the space where her name was once printed in gold, foreign letters of the native Nightmaren language, though now remained as all but a band of deep scars that had been carved into the wood by razored claws.

His claws.

When NiGHTS had rebelled against Wizeman and the Nightmaren Army, the enraged god had ordered Reala to erase her name from the door, in an attempt to obliterate her traitorous name from existence. Of course, that hadn't exactly been a well thought out plan due to the fact Wizeman, for years now, had been trying to re-capture her and return her to the ranks. But Reala knew that Wizeman was a bit of a loose-cannon, with a temper that could leap from 0 to bat-fuck furious in less than a second. He knew this all too well in fact, because it was one of the things Reala had inherited from the god upon his creation.

Sometimes, Reala just wished he could tear down that door and do away with the female all together. Maybe then he could finally live his life without the feeling of constantly being pathetic in the eyes of Wizeman. But he couldn't deny all the other times where his emotions had betrayed him. Sometimes he'd hate her and curse her name without remorse of any kind, and sometimes he'd ignore the thoughts of her with ease and even go for weeks without so much as sparing a moment for the violet-capped Nightmaren. But then there were other times… when the very thought of her made his chest ache. And he just couldn't figure out _why_.

Most of the time though he had to admit, if he was truly being honest with himself, it was all just a huge mix of confusing, conflicting emotions. He didn't know who he was half the time anymore.

His eyes never left the door before him, an entryway into a whole other world that had been completely sealed off and unopened ever since NiGHTS had rebelled. He wasn't sure how long he'd been standing there for, but time seemed to be an irrelevant thing as he gazed upon the lilac hue of the entrance.

His eyes became narrow, and he felt an irritating itch begin to form itself between the blades of his shoulders.

"_Why can't I just forget you?"_

Reala didn't have time to realise how silly it all seemed, talking to a door. Especially when not a moment later he heard the powerful voice of Wizeman summon the Nightmaren to his chambers. Reala groaned to himself, mentally prepping his psyche for what he could tell was going to be a long meeting. He allowed himself to levitate a foot above the ground once more, knowing he'd have to report to the god as quickly as he could.

Still though, that didn't mean he was looking forward to it.

* * *

"_My Creation, you are aware as to why I summoned you here, correct?"_ The split-voiced words of the massive being caused Reala to bow on command, low and on one knee with his shoulders slightly tense. _Of course_ he was aware of why the god had called for an audience with him.

Reala didn't speak though nodded in reply, keeping low as he felt Wizeman's cold, slitted eyes upon him –all six of them. The silver hands that remained idly swaying about at Wizeman's sides refused to let Reala out of their sights, easily sensing the tension within his smaller creation. Lately he had begun to sense the discord within Reala, and he had a fair idea over what it was about. He knew that Reala was still completely and utterly loyal to him, but on the inside he could tell the smaller 1st Class was beginning to stir with unease over something –and that it wasn't going to go away.

Wizeman took his time in spacing out his words, keeping his small creation completely on edge as he stood back to an attentive position. Reala's eyes remained elsewhere as Wizeman watched him, his utterly powerful aura weighing down upon the crimson capped Nightmaren's shoulders, keeping him unable to move. Beneath his feet, Reala couldn't help but muse over how his master's quarters looked like it was an entire world of its own accord, a black void that stretched on forever. Where there was stable ground, an endless stretch of darkness was all that remained. It was a little disorienting sometimes.

"_Reala, you failed your mission to retrieve the traitor… again."_ Reala flinched at the words, his arms behind his back as he fiddled a little with his clawed fingers. He didn't like the pause Wizeman had used.

The slit-eyed Nightmaren nodded once and bowed his head. "Yes…"

The god before him brought two of his chrome-clad hands close to the smaller male, the edges of his eyes that were centred in the silver palms growing tight with an obvious anger he was holding inside. Reala still kept his own eyes away from the powerful gaze, knowing it wasn't his place to answer with anything more than the simplest of responses.

"_Do you have a valid excuse for this?"_ Reala's eyes narrowed. He had nothing. And he knew that his master was aware of it.

"I guess… I was just distracted. I think I might be getting sick or something." Reala frowned at his own response. It was a very stupid excuse, hardly even an excuse at all. Though there was some truth to his words, he didn't understand what was going on with him, but it had been growing worse and worse over time. The only thing he could use to explain it was that he was in fact just coming down with something.

"_That is a very poor excuse, Reala. You are the head of my Nightmaren Army, a ruthless mercenary, and you're excuse is that you simply got _distracted_?"_ When Wizeman drew his eyes closer to the crimson jester, Reala bowed quickly in an attempt to hopefully lessen some of the anger that was building inside the powerful god.

"Forgive me, my Lord. I will do better next time." Reala raised his head again, slight fear in his eyes despite how strong he kept a hold on himself. "And what's more, the next time I will be able to bring you back a pure crystal of Red Ideya. It seems another Visitor that possesses the rare substance has once again made it into the Night Dimension."

"_I'm well aware another visitor with the Red Ideya of Courage has appeared in the world of Nightopia, Reala."_ Wizeman snapped back with a hint of venom in his overwhelming voice, causing the 1st Class to drop his head once more in apprehension. Wizeman's eyes narrowed. _"And that is beside the point. Whether or not you've been keeping count, I have given you well over enough times to complete this assignment. It is obvious to me now that cannot bring in the traitor NiGHTS by yourself."_

Reala suddenly lifted his head and stared with slightly widened eyes into the gleaming gaze of his master, dark lips parted slightly in confusion. "Master Wizeman, what do you mean?" He didn't like the way the god was leading to something… and he could tell it was something he wasn't going to like.

Wizeman watched the way Reala was beginning to squirm in his own skin. _"I have decided… to create a new 1__st__ Class in order to replace NiGHTS' spot as your partner."_

Reala stepped backwards slightly, unable to understand what the god was saying. Had Wizeman gone completely insane? Well, it was obvious Wizeman was a little nuts, especially over his power, but this was just madness!

"But my Lord, you can't be serious!" Reala didn't mean to speak out of turn, and he could tell by the way Wizeman was glaring daggers into him; the god wasn't impressed by his audaciousness. Still, Reala couldn't understand what had caused the dark lord to come to such a dangerous decision.

Reala straightened with his hands bailed at his sides. "You said, after NiGHTS' betrayal all those years ago, that you wouldn't ever create another 1st Class –because of the strong possibility any more would prove even more disastrous. What happens if you do create another 1st Class and it becomes just as traitorous as NiGHTS was?"

"_You are forgetting who I am, Reala, and you are forgetting your place. Do you believe I honestly haven't thought of that possibility? Do you believe I would be that stupid as to make the same mistake twice?"_ Wizeman's words struck Reala fiercely, causing him to go completely quiet and submissive. It was obvious the god was becoming angered by the fact Reala was forgetting his place, speaking out of line. This was exactly why his decision to create a new, more obedient subject was proving to be a better and better decision.

Reala bit his tongue and looked down, unsure of how exactly to feel about the information. If Wizeman was thinking of creating a third Nightmaren of 1st Class skill, then where exactly did it leave him? Was he not good enough? Was Wizeman indirectly telling him that he was worthless, and didn't believe he was skilled enough to finish the mission of capturing NiGHTS? Sure, he had to admit that his eye hadn't been on the ball as of late. He wasn't lying when he said he'd been distracted, and that it was hindering his ability to finish the mission. But he had no idea he was suddenly doing so incredibly _poorly_ that Wizeman was convinced he had to create help for him!

Reala could feel his spine burning. Yet still he yielded, his usually calm and confident voice becoming quiet again. "Forgive my abruptness, Master…"

Wizeman towered over the smaller being by several storeys, bearing his incredible aura down upon the cobalt-eyed Nightmaren and causing Reala to shift a little nervously in place. After a few moments of proving the division of power between them in a haunting silence, Wizeman retracted a little and turned away from the younger being. _"This time around, I will not be making the mistake of creating a being that is as much of a disobedient failure as NiGHTS was." _Wizeman turned back to face the crimson jester, one of his hands lifting to reveal a decent sized crystal of Red Ideya in his palm. He rolled it a little between his chrome fingertips as Reala watched carefully, feeling as if the powerful being was doing it in an almost mocking manner. _"When you and NiGHTS were created, I required the use of all the Ideya in order to perfect your design. However, the Red Ideya of Courage, being the rarest of all Ideya, was needed in a larger amount to achieve the balance of power required to create the two of you."_

Reala nodded slowly, understanding the story already. Wizeman had told them of their creation long ago and how he had achieved such a perfect species of Nightmaren and he knew it fairly well, however this time hearing the story settled him. It was as if he was gaining some closure to make him feel a little calmer over the unease that had been building inside his heart for a while now.

"_You and NiGHTS were created as two halves of one whole, and I had thought that the Red Ideya used in your creation would split evenly between the both of you. However, as it turned out, the split was uneven and resulted in the two of you being opposites, instead of identical beings."_

_You certainly aren't lying about that, Master…_ Reala thought with a slight frown.

"_Because most of the Red Ideya ended up in NiGHTS, it gave her the ability of free thought and rebelliousness from a very young age. Where you were always my loyalest of creations, she sought to question my motives more and more as the two of you matured together. She always had the courage to question, and ultimately ending up launching her own revolution. But because most of her strength lay in her will, you became filled with superior physical strength. The gem on your chest is an impure crystal of Red Ideya. It is unstable, which is why you cannot Dualize with Visitors. But together with NiGHTS, with both your Ideya shards combined, you create the purest form of Red Ideya, and, beneath myself, the most powerful of all Nightmaren ever created."_ He paused for a moment before turning back to Reala. _"However, that seems to be a thing of the past now that you two will never be on the same wavelength anymore."_

Reala shifted a little at the words. Wizeman seemed deep in thought, and continued to fall deeper into a spell of contemplation as he spoke. Inwardly, he sighed reflectively to himself. _"It is because of this fact that the two of you, together, are in perfect harmony. But at odds, neither one of you can defeat the other. What one is skilled in; the other is lacking, and vice-versa. Neither of you will ever die by the other's hands; I had come to realise this fact since the last time I was destroyed by NiGHTS and the Visitors power, only to resurrect myself afterwards and become slightly less powerful than I was before. At this rate, if my plan to rule all worlds is ever going to come to realization, NiGHTS cannot be free to stop me. And, if you can't be the one to successfully bring her in, then I will make use of my remaining powers and create someone who can."_

Reala felt his fist begin to tighten and even shake a little at his side. It was plain to him now that Wizeman really didn't believe he was good enough to complete the mission of capturing NiGHTS. But the idea of it was completely ridiculous! So he wasn't doing his best as of late, so what? That didn't mean he was as hopeless as Wizeman was claiming him to be! Reala knew better than to question the motives of the God of Nightmare, but that this point he couldn't _not _question things. He _knew _he was more than capable of defeating NiGHTS and returning her to Nightmare. And he _had _to prove it.

"Master Wizeman please, I know I've been a little distracted as of late but I'm not useless. It's my fault I haven't been focused, but I have absolutely no doubt in my abilities. I will bring back NiGHTS even if it kills me, just allow me another chance to prove it. I don't need anyone else to help me in bringing back that fugitive!"

"_Enough Reala!"_ Wizeman roared in a way that shook the crimson jester to his very core, although it was obvious to the stronger entity that Reala wasn't backing down. He didn't care for his creations countering him in such a manner, but he was actually rather surprised that Reala was showing some backbone for once. His eyes didn't lose their sense of strength as contrasting, slitted gazes of blue and gold refused to back down from one another. All six of Wizeman's eyes were upon the crimson jester now, and they all looked just about done with the conversation. _"There is no use trying to convince me to undo what is already done."_

Reala's eyes became wide with disbelief. "You mean to say…?"

The nearest of the god's eyes narrowed. _"You and I both know that I have given you more than enough opportunities to capture NiGHTS of your own accord. And it seems obvious that you cannot do this task alone. With yours and NiGHTS power and abilities being in a complete stalemate, there is no other option. Which is why I had begun the process of creating a third 1__st__ Class around a month ago. In fact, it won't be too much longer before the new Creation is fully developed, at which stage I will be entrusting you with its training."_

Reala felt his heart drop to the floor at that. Not only was he basically being replaced, but he was also the one who would have to train the very being that was replacing him! The very idea sickened him. "Master Wizeman, please-!"

"_There is no debate on this subject Reala. You are the most capable soldier in my army, and there is no one else who I can assign to this task with more confidence than you."_ As Reala's shoulders dropped a little, ultimately realising there was no arguing against the dark god, Wizeman seemed to nod slightly, pleased with the 1st Class that he wasn't putting up too much of a fight over it. _"Besides, this Nightmaren is being created for the sole purpose of being your new partner for missions. It would be rather stupid to have anyone else train them, wouldn't it?"_

Reala was quiet for a long time, his hands still in strong, slightly quivering fists of frustration at his sides as the smaller being bit his tongue in anger over the whole idea. Wizeman's voice became deep and serious. _"Reala, answer me."_

With a great amount of stubbornness to his answer, the smaller Nightmaren finally glanced away and spoke through a tight-lipped scowl. _"Yes, Master." _His hands relaxed limply against his sides, but the anger boiling within him over the whole idea was obvious to anyone –even those without six eyes.

Wizeman's eyes narrowed dangerously at the tone of voice Reala's words were coated in, his hand returning to their usual, halo-like position around him. He ignored Reala's obvious loathing for the decision. _"Good. That is all for today, you are free from missions until the novice is awakened, which I surmise will be any time during the next week. Training this new Nightmaren will be your main priority until they are fit for taking on the task of bringing NiGHTS back in alongside yourself. Until then, however, you are free of duty. Dismissed."_

Reala tongue was being so severely bitten into by his curved canines that he was surprised he hadn't tasted blood yet, his fury beginning to reach unbelievable levels. He did his best to remain as calm as he could however in the presence of the god. He could tell Wizeman was already fed up with the fact he'd failed his mission again, so speaking out against him would only anger him more. And at the current moment, Reala simply wanted to get away from everyone, so he could be alone again.

The crimson jester bowed stiffly. "Thank you, Lord Wizeman."

Reala turned and left quickly after that, desperate to find his own place even more than when he'd first arrived back in Nightmare. The dark god made no attempt to stop his creation as he simply watched him leave, knowing Reala wasn't going to accept this easily. Sure, he would nod, and follow his orders to the toe without putting up a physical fight, but he knew on the inside that the 1st Class was being eaten away by fury. However, there was no avoiding the situation. Without NiGHTS, Reala could never truly be at his full potential. They were so perfectly matched that Reala was physically unable to capture NiGHTS by himself.

Maybe now he would finally have a being that was without flaws, without failure.

* * *

Reala's rage was blinding him.

Ever since he'd left Wizeman's presence, he crimson Maren had been searching desperately for a place he could be alone with his thoughts… and his fury. Soaring through the castle hallways, his spine burning with a seething anger and his eyes hardly even taking notice of where he was going, Reala had gotten turned around a few times already in his desperation to be alone. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt such a strong urge to destroy something, _anything_. A few low-levels would work, or maybe just a sparring target. Anything he could tear apart with his own deadly claws would do.

Rounding a corner with ease and grace to his flying technique, Reala had quickly stopped before he'd completely crashed into the back of another idle Nightmaren. He cursed himself for being so careless, and his eyes widened a little in utter and complete regret when the cobalt hue of his eyes had met with a long, flowing cape of gold, orange and white.

"Heyyyy brother-face! What time did you get back from your mission?"

Reala wanted to shoot himself in the face. Of _all_ the times to run into the crazed lunatic and it had to be now. He spoke through slightly parted teeth, unable to focus on anything else but his anger. "Jackle."

The hook-horned 2nd Class grinned madly at his name, idly shuffling his iconic deck of cards in his hands. He didn't seem to be in his 'five year old on an extreme sugar high' state, which was a relief. "Did you capture little-miss-free-spirit?"

Reala's eyes narrowed dangerously. Usually he could deal with his friend's obsessive annoyances, but today he was in no mood. At his sides, Reala's clawed fingers tensed with anger. "I quite obviously haven't, otherwise Master Wizeman wouldn't be making a replacement for me!"

Jackle stopped shuffling for a moment and tilted his head. "Oh, you know about that now? I thought old Wizey-boy was keeping it a secret from everyone." Hardly noticing the look of utter disbelief that crossed Reala's face over the revelation, Jackle drew up the card on the top of his prized deck and looked at it. He broke into a manic grin and giggled slightly over the sight before turning it out for the scarred 1st Class to see, revealing the King of Spades. "Hey look, it's totally you!" Jackle began to howl with maniacal laughter despite how utterly exasperated Reala looked. Giving a devilish grin, Jackle couldn't help but entertain the thoughts on who exactly would be the queen.

Reala had suddenly threw his hands out and gripped the cloaked Nightmaren by the shoulders, causing a few of the cards in Jackal's hands to spill onto the floor. Reala's azure eyes were blazing with a mix of confusion, disbelief and ire. "You knew about this?! Since when have you been aware of this new creation?"

For a moment, Jackal glanced at the floor with a disappointed look. "Ohhh noooo, the cards fell."

"Jackle!"

"Hmm?" The golden-capped Maren's distracted personality was really testing Reala, but that was a given anyway. The infuriated look in Reala's eyes caused Jackle to focus and grow a bit of a surprised look on his face. "Oh! Right. Uh, well I wasn't directly told if that's what you mean. Wizeman has been keeping this completely under wraps. I think something about him not wanting anyone to be hyped up about it? Who knows." The way Reala's lip was twitching slightly, and the way his grip on the cloaked Maren's collar was only intensifying made Jackal realise he was in no mood for idle conversation. Jackal raised his hands a little and eased Reala's grip away from his throat. "Anyhoodles, Donbalon told me that he heard that Gulpo heard that Puffy was told that Clawz had walked past a door that some of the lower-class levels were in and were talking about it –a few who were assigned to looking after the new kid's development."

Reala glanced away for a moment, elsewhere in thought. He folded his slightly scarred arms over his chest and glanced back at Jackal –a little less tense this time. "Have you heard anything else about it?"

Jackle shrugged. "Nothing really else more. Aside from the girls talking about stupid crap like whether or not he'll be cute or not." The gambler shook his head a little at the perplexity of female Nightmarens. "Freaking women, am I right? I'll never understand them." With a sudden, crazed grin however, Jackle had performed a complete 360 from serious to absolutely chipper once more. "Wanna play some poker? I promise this time it won't be the strip version."

Reala gave a slightly disgusted look and shook his head quickly. "No, I would _very much_ rather not. If anything I'm going to the training arena to destroy something. So unless you'd like to volunteer for a sparring match against me, I'll take my leave." With that Reala pushed past Jackle in an obvious fit of rage, though not directed at Jackal, as his eyes still burned with anger. Jackle watched the crimson jester fly off without any indication of stopping, and with a slight frown he cupped a hand to the side of his mouth and called back to the other.

"You sure you don't want to play a game of poker? Or Texas Hold'em?" He paused for a moment, knowing Reala probably wasn't even listening to him anyway. "What about 52 pick-up?" Jackle tossed his deck of cards into the air and completely forgot why he'd done it, grinning as he watched the cards gracefully litter the ground around him. He threw his arms up in the air and cackled. "CONFETTI!"

However, Reala was already long gone, and was very thankful to have escaped Jackle's limited attention. The golden-capped 2nd class looked around at his cards and sighed. "Guess I'll go find someone else to gamble with. Maybe Clawz, that rat bastard owes me money anyway."

xXXXXXx

**A/N: **I always gathered that whenever Wizeman was fully destroyed (only to revive himself in the next game) that all his Nightmarens would be revived as well –hence why Reala is always like "I'm back bitches." Though I think everyone thinks that, so never mind me waffling on.

R&R's are very muchly appreciated, my fellow writers!


	3. The King, The Soldier, The Monster

**A/N: **I quite obviously suck at descriptions in stories and make 'em too long, so for a better idea of my OC/FanMaren I'm going to upload some pictures of what he looks like either on here or my DeviantART account, which is under the same magnificent name: SilverHotDog :D

**DISCLAIMER: **You peeps know the routine, I don't own any cannon stuff regarding NiGHTS, but I do own Memphis and the FanMaren who makes his debut appearance in this chapter

So please R&R with feedback, it's greatly appreciated :3

xXXXXXx

When Reala had heard the call of Wizeman's overpowering voice in the back of his mind, summoning him to his quarters at once, the scarred mercenary halted in his training exercise and sighed heavily. Today was the day he was going to be introduced to the one that he felt was being created for the sole existence of his replacement. Of course, Wizeman hadn't _exactly_ said that, the god's reasoning for it was that he was creating a new partner for Reala. But the jester could sense that Wizeman was growing tired of his continuing failure in missions, and this was the final solution.

He had been dreading this moment since he'd first learnt about it three days before.

His sparring partner for the day, Jackal –who was armed to the hilt with his signature deck of cards and a more than Machiavellian grin, noticed the hesitation in the 1st Class' face as he stopped and released his body from its offensive stance. "What's up lord featherface? Finished already?"

The look Reala gave the Nightmaren over the highly detested nickname caused Jackle to simply begin cackling madly, waving a hand around in front of his body and calling his scattered cards back into a neatly stacked deck in his palm. How Jackle came up with a new nickname every day astounded him.

Reala stood in an upright manner as he dusted himself off. The training session had left both Jackle and he with several cuts and bruises, but nothing serious. They would heal easily and quickly, as the training arena was lined with Green Ideya crystals –the Ideya of personal growth, both physical and mental. This Ideya was usually used in healing practices, so whatever wounds gained in training would easily repair themselves with the aid of the healing light.

"Wizeman has summoned me, I think it's time." His words were spoken with a hint of distaste for the matter. He really wasn't in the mood for this, but there was no stopping it.

"Seriously? We're going to meet this new kid today?" Jackle turned and lifted his hand in a signal to the small audience that had gathered to watch the training match while in wait for their turn to use the field –which today had turned out to be Clawz, Donbalon and Chamelan. Seeing the hand, the feline-like Nightmaren had swiftly tossed a decent sized shard of a Growth Ideya to the golden-cloaked other, who held it in his hand for a stronger healing effect. "How do you rekon it'll go?"

Jackal would have joked a lot more about the matter, but he was very aware of the fact Reala was secretly loathing his position. As Reala frowned and started unwrapping the bandages that had been tied around his hands and knuckles -the originally white colour now slightly dirty from all the punches he'd been throwing in the sparring match. The creation of the new 1st Class was going to happen one way or the other; he might as well just accept it. Even if the thought of having a new partner was stirring some kind of black emotion inside he wasn't aware he possessed.

After a long, tense minute, Reala finally managed to answer a simple: "As long as this new recruit is not just another one of you, I think I'll survive." Reala spoke with a hint of mockery towards the 2nd Class, who simply pulled a face at the male while he semi-focused on juggling the green, slightly luminous rock in his free hand. The cyan-eyed male ran his hooked fingers through his exposed, ebony hair and cracked his neck a little –having taken off his signature, black-ringed hat for the training match. He had a feeling that the day was going to be a long one. Not only would he have to witness the creation of the new 1st Class, which was an incredibly painful sight to behold of its own accord from what he remembered of his own creation, but he would also have to introduce the new Nightmaren to all of the castle, the rest of the classes (who he could already tell were going to be annoying), and possibly get right into their first day of training.

Reala always hated dealing with new recruits. He'd trained a few of the promising soldiers in the Nightmaren Army over the years, and more often than not they turned out to be ridiculously oblivious and overall just… awful. They frustrated him with their lack of any kind of fighting knowledge and weak bodies. He'd only met very few fighters who had shown any kind of potential in his life, and he knew today would be no different. Just because this was going to be a 1st Class didn't mean it was going to be any less useless than all the others he'd trained.

_Let's just get this over with…_ He thought with absolute malice as he pulled on his vest, gauntlets, belt, collar, golden necklace and finally his crimson and onyx striped hat, carefully pulling it over his two exposed horns of silver and head of short, ebony black hair. For a moment he looked down at the violet coloured gem in the centre of his thick necklace, tilting it slightly so that its flawless surface caught the overhead lights of the arena. He kept his eyes to the jewel as he gently fixed his persona into place and allowed his mind to wonder over the new creation.

_A 1__st__ Class Nightmaren that won't have any amount of Red Ideya in its system… I wonder what it will look like. Master Wizeman says NiGHTS' lithe form resulted from her having a pure shard of it within her body, and my own stronger looking physique resulted from a lack of it. Does that mean this new Nightmaren will look more like myself, or NiGHTS? Or will it be a being that is entirely different to both NiGHTS and me? If Master Wizeman has created this creature as a replacement partner for me, a replacement of NiGHTS, then I can't imagine he'd want to stray too far from our design. But who knows with Master Wizeman… I don't know what to expect with him half the time anymore. _

Reala gave his gold and ruby coloured vambraces a slight tightening around his wrist before he turned to the small Nightmaren audience. They were all on good terms with each other, but Jackle was the only one who Reala would consider to be a close friend of his. His face became serious. "However long this takes, and depending on how much the awakening exhausts the new recruit, I will return later to give you all the information I can about them." He wondered for a moment why he was speaking so formally, though he guessed it was because he wasn't looking forward to the situation at hand. He had a strange way of being effected by uneasiness.

The four 2nd Classes nodded with smiles to their superior, Jackle suddenly giving him two thumbs up with a wicked grin on his face. "Try not to break in this kid too fiercely Ree!"

With a bit of a smile, Reala's eyes became dark, however light-hearted. "That isn't how I operate, you know that. It's either learn fast or die." Reala turned and placed one hand on his hip, musing to himself as he spoke with a silver tongue, anger burning in the back of his skull.

_And if this new creation can't handle that, their loss. I refuse to work with a useless partner._

The chambers or 'throne room' of Wizeman the Wicked was unusually dark today. Unlike most of the time where there would be various, rich colours contrasting against each other in the dark void, along with a huge throne ignited in an array of burning torches, today it was all but black. Light was scarce and whatever ounce of it that remained was soft, making it even more difficult to determine which way was up and which was was down. Reala stood at Wizeman's side and watched on in silence, and, as much as he didn't want to admit it, even slight curiosity over what would soon be the creation of his new partner.

Reala snarled inwardly to himself. _I don't need a damned partner. _He knew better than to speak out against the god however and instead stood at full attention by his side, completely silent and attentive to what Wizeman was doing. He at least felt some honour that Wizeman was allowing him to stand at his side, almost like equals, as they witnessed the creation of a life.

"_Reala, do you remember when I had given life to both you and NiGHTS?"_ The vermillion clad jester perked up slightly in surprise when the god had spoken almost idly to him. Wizeman didn't look at the small Nightmaren and instead kept himself completely focused on what he was doing, which seemed to be arranging four crystals of the different Ideya –excluding the rare vermillion coloured Ideya of Courage- onto the pitch black floor in the form of a circle. After a while, Reala returned his gaze to the ring of glowing crystals and nodded slowly.

"Yes… a little." His eyes narrowed in thought. "It was such a long time ago…" Reala grimaced in wonder. Where was this sudden conversation coming from? Wizeman seemed to be almost sentimental over the memory.

Almost.

Reala knew he wasn't however. Why would he be? It was just another Nightmaren creation; he'd been through countless ones already after all.

_But only once before with beings as powerful as NiGHTS and myself, the only 1__st__ Classes in existence... _He frowned at his inner voice as the hands that remained at the base of his spine tightened a little. He wasn't looking forward to this for a number of reasons. The main reason may have been his downright unwillingness over having to have a new partner, but another huge factor was that from what he could remember of his own creation… it was downright _traumatic_.

He closed his eyes and heard the excruciating screams of NiGHTS still clear and ringing in his head from memories of that day.

Behind his closed eyes Reala noticed a flash of light, and he opened them to see that the ring of the four Ideya beginning to glow brighter, igniting the room in an ominous aura. The 1st class glanced at the dark god, noticing a highly concentrating look on his face –relatively easy despite the fact he really didn't have much of a face to begin with. Wizeman was silent as he lowered one of his hands to gently lie in the centre of the incandescent ring, palm and closed eye in its centre opened towards the ceiling. He curled it into a tight fist and kept it tight as the Ideya ring began reacting accordingly, glowing brighter and brighter as Wizeman's hand remained in a constricted fist. Reala's eyes narrowed as he saw the palm of the god's hand begin to coat itself in a layer of thick, red blood, pooling between his chrome-tinted fingers and slowly oozing onto the floor. Once the blood reached the solid surface however, it didn't remain in a pooled form. It instead branched out, snaking its way into jagged, tribal-like patterns that shimmered in the various coloured lights of the glowing Ideya rocks.

Reala couldn't help but grimace at the sight of the blood forming itself into strange symbols, and the sight of Wizeman's hand beginning to quiver slightly from the amount of concentration the entire ritual was using up in the dark being's mind. He didn't remember this part from his own creation, but he had seen things similar to it in other Nightmaren's creations. Being infused with the dark god's own powers, 1st Classes had a slightly different creation ritual to those of any other class. However, he did know what was coming next, and it was making his stomach begin to churn uneasily. He really wasn't looking forward to it.

The formation of the blood seemed to hesitate for a moment before touching the outer ring of the glowing crystals, causing Reala to unknowingly hold his breath and tighten his hand to the point his piercing fingernails were beginning to leave marks on the outside of his knuckles. As soon as time had seemed to come to a halt, the blood had resurrected itself and shot outwards in four lines that surrounded the individual Ideya pieces. Small formations rippled on the surface of the crimson liquid as the all the powers of Growth, Hope, Purity and Intelligence began to travel through the designs of the blood in their various colours, before finally causing Wizeman's hand to open once more and reveal the source of the blood was in fact the eye that remained closed in the centre of the silver palm. Slowly the slitted orb opened, and from the centre of the serpentine iris a new shape had begun to form from the mixture of blood and glowing Ideya. At first it didn't seem much different from the pooling mixture, but then it moved independently. Reala witnessed fingers, then a hand, and finally the snap of a joint pull itself from the centre of Wizeman's weeping iris, and before he had a chance to even so much as shiver a second arm had torn itself from the god's palm and forced a lithe body out with it. The being was coated in blood and seemed broken in all the wrong places, but it was definitely alive. Reala hated the sight. He'd remembered the cracking of the forming bones and the blood and the soft lights of the Ideya crystals, but this time he was actually witnessing it happening. It was disturbing beyond all belief and left him with an almost nauseating feeling inside.

Then the screaming came. He couldn't forget that aspect of the creation… The painful mixture of agony and disorientation that formed as blood-chilling howls from the newborn Nightmaren was proof enough that it had survived the creation stage, but only just barely.

Wizeman's fingers curled around the bloodied form slightly, almost protectively, as the being gasped for air and tried to comprehend the unbearable amount of pain it was feeling. Reala felt his spine shiver over the memories of the agony.

How unfair it seemed to be that the first thing a Nightmaren ever experienced was bone-shattering agony.

It was the reason why many didn't make it through the creation process, and those who did proved to be strong of will, body and heart. It was a torturous method of selection for the Nightmaren army, but Reala had to admit it was a highly successful one. The older 1st Class' eyes became narrow as the rest of the being's thin body was pulled from Wizeman's slitted iris, which immediately stopped bleeding and remained without any form of wounds.

Reala's arms had folded themselves a while before, and they shifted a little as he assessed the new Nightmaren. From its voice alone he could tell it wasn't like NiGHTS and had a masculine form, but the splits in the blood coating his body revealed cream coloured skin, unlike himself. The male's horns that would later be covered by the iconic headwear of the 1st Classes were curled right in on themselves –like a ram, and his hair ended around his shoulders and currently hung in his face like a bloodied curtain. He seemed to be a little smaller than Reala in muscle build, though it could have been because he was undoubtedly younger than the masked Maren. Only time would tell how he would mature, as it had been with NiGHTS and himself.

Considering this 1st Class had been created without the Red Ideya of Courage, he seemed relatively functional. Reala had thought, nay _hoped_ the lack of it may have made this Nightmaren's creation fail, but other than an unavoidable amount of physical, and possibly slight mental trauma he seemed alright. Sensing the success of the creation, Wizeman gently allowed the smaller Maren's body to slide from his cradling palm and onto the floor, onto his knees like some kind of broken soul. The ring of Ideya glowed brightly, calming him, healing him and filling him with the sensation of being alive as he continued to breathe heavily, still not used to the feeling of needing air in his lungs.

Reala had to feel sorry for the younger male, if only slightly. Surviving the creation process wasn't easy, hell even he'd been nearly destroyed by it. And NiGHTS had taken it even worse…

But now was not the time to dwell on the past. He was here, and he needed to be broken in.

"Can you speak?" Reala asked in a forceful voice, asserting his dominance almost instantly as he stepped forward before the silent and kneeling being. Wizeman watched on in a respectful silence. He knew Reala was more than qualified for training this new 1st Class, and that he would train him well, so he had no need to intervene.

The Nightmaren that remained as a royally broken, completely chaotic soul before the dark-eyed male looked as if he were caught in a horrible equilibrium between death and living, but Reala knew it would pass. Eventually. These first few steps into the new world were the most crucial part of a Nightmaren's existence –especially one that Wizeman had a lot riding on such as this one. As the blood dripped away from his body, he slowly managed to lift his head upwards –though only slightly. Reala couldn't see his eyes yet, but he knew they were open.

"Wh-…" The younger male seemed to be trying to form words, but the blood that was escaping his mouth was causing him to choke on his voice a little. Reala watched as he painfully forced his arm up to the side of his mouth and wipe at it with his knuckle, studying the blood on his hand, on the floor and the coppery taste it left in his mouth for a moment before he swallowed thickly. "Where…?"

Reala's eyes grew thin. "So you can speak. Lucky for you, it means your body has made use of the Ideya of Wisdom. Some aren't even lucky enough to utilise all the Ideya in their system at the first awakening."

The kneeling entity seemed to be coming around fairly quickly as he moved his arms and fingers almost mechanically, getting used to his own skin at a leisurely pace. After a moment, the pale Nightmaren curled his arms around his shoulders and shivered slightly. "Cold…"

Reala nodded despite the fact he knew the boy wasn't speaking directly to him, more so just speaking and adapting to the idea of it. Nightmarens, especially 1st Classes, were built with years of knowledge already programmed into their systems and so didn't require and education upon being brought to life. But, having to register that much information all at once, it left them quite bewildered and unable to do much else but wait and let it sink in.

"That will pass when your magic begins to form. It should only be a few hours before the energy of Nightmare fill you, in which case you will form clothes of your own accord. Your Persona will also manifest itself from this magic, all of which the design will reflect your personality and skills, but this mask will be the last item you receive. Everything else will need to be learnt from hard work and training… by me." He spoke the last words with venom. He didn't like this kid already, and that _had _to be a record.

"Am I… alive?" Reala groaned to himself and placed a hand on his gold belt.

"Obviously." Reala replayed the question over in his head. His voice had a slight accent, but it didn't seem to be as thick as his or NiGHTS. It was definitely young however, thought it would change as he quickly matured. Reala guessed he'd have a smooth voice, from what he could hear in it already, and it would be proud with power and confidence. But that would only form in time. After a few minutes of watching the shivering mass of pale flesh and bone, Reala returned to folding his arms strongly across his chest. "You will be more alive as you adapt however."

Feeling his strength growing at an agonizingly slow, though even pace, the younger Nightmaren groggily managed to pull his head up and allow his gaze to meet Reala's. Neither said anything for a moment, mainly sizing the other up in their own, quiet manner. The new Nightmaren's eyes were darker than his, possibly even darker than NiGHTS as well –a navy-sapphire hue. But they were slitted in the same fashion, like a feline's, and rimmed with thick eyelashes. Reala noticed that underneath his left eye, printed onto his cheek like black tattoos, were three small diamond-like shapes -separated each by a dot.

As soon as the eye contact was made however, it was quickly lost. Whatever strength had filled the neonatal Nightmaren had seemed to dissipate completely, causing the ram-horned boy's eyes to fall shut and his body to collapse completely at Reala's feet. The crimson capped jester stepped back once, refusing to drop his crossed arms as he looked down upon the younger 1st Class with disgust.

His burning eyes spoke only one word in the back of his mind.

"_Pathetic."_

* * *

The sunlight seemed a little bit duller that day, although that could have easily been due to the fact NiGHTS wasn't really feeling her freedom. As much as she tried to take her mind off her own inner turmoil, she just couldn't help but slip in and out of her own little world. A world filled with guilt, regret and… even heartache. It was a real shame too, her day so far had been going so well until she'd run into _him_ again.

"So… that other guy -the one with the mask. You two know each other?" Memphis was idle in his words as he watched a small group of chattering Nightopians play around in a bed of wildflowers. The pale haired man smiled at the sight, the creatures in this place were so _weird_, but cute enough. Seriously, there were cloud-sheep-dragons. _Cloud-sheep-dragons._

NiGHTS would have been completely shocked by the fact he'd lined up the pieces so easily, maybe even already figured out they were the same species. But today she couldn't get into her usual façade of perfectly energetic obliviousness. Today she just felt… worn. Maybe because this man was an adult she felt she didn't have to try and convince him that everything was alright and that this world was perfect, like she usually did with innocent children. She could tell when she looked at him, looked into his slightly worn, dulled eyes of teal that he already understood most things in life weren't perfect. And even though the Nightopia was a much gentler realm of existence in comparison to what she'd been told of the human realm, every world had its darkness. Everything had a balance.

NiGHTS sighed a little as she gently floated around, her arms behind her head and one leg over the other as she kept her eyes towards the sky. "Well… yes, we know each other fairly well." She frowned to herself. It felt so strange admitting that to a visitor, when for the most part she would do everything in her power to hide it. Even from herself, at times. "We aren't on the best of terms at the moment however. Haven't been for a while in fact."

"Well I guessed that much. I mean the guy did throw a glowing ball of what I can only assume was about ninety per-cent death at us." Memphis offered her a smile, though she didn't see it and instead kept her lilac eyes elsewhere.

The violet jester glanced at the man. "Do you have anything like that in your world?" NiGHTS seemed to look like she was having trouble continuing. "Like… someone you were once really close to, but because of… well, complications I guess you could call them, you do nothing but fight and argue with each other because of those complications?" She glanced over at the pale haired man with a bit of a hopeful look. When Memphis had given her a bit of a confused, though thoughtful look, she sighed and shook her head. "Sorry, I'm as useful at explanations as a fish with a bicycle."

"No no, I think I get you," The blonde man nodded without looking at her, instead keeping his eyes on the purring Nightopian who had innocently wandered onto his lap. _Like cats, _he mused in his head. "Well the main thing I imagine you're talking about is an Ex?"

"An 'Ex?" NiGHTS turned and became interested by the word. She'd never heard it before, but if the concept was the same at least her whole rocky –at best- relationship with Reala would be made easier to explain to the human. Memphis nodded thoughtfully as he gently scratched the Nightopian behind the ear, earning a look of complete ecstasy from it. He couldn't help but continually mindfuck over the creatures of the Night Dimension. They all seemed so _weird_.

"Yeah, it sounds like that's what you're talking about. In our world we call the person you're fighting with an 'ex'. As in ex-lover/partner."

NiGHTS almost choked at the word. _Ex-lover?!_

She instantly snapped upright and began waving her hands in front of her, the female Maren's slitted eyes wide with surprise and her face turning all shades of red –to her dismay. "_W-what_?! No, I didn't mean anything like _that! _I meant we just used to be friends but now we aren't because of stuff –me mostly!" Holy freaking hell, the thought of Reala as a _lover? _A… _mate? _It was just… ridiculous!

Her heart was pounding so fast and her face had turned so hot for a moment she thought she may have been having a heart attack.

Memphis' eyes went wide as he realised how much the jester was freaking out over a case of a misunderstanding. He waved his hands a little himself, trying to cancel out the panic of the situation. "Oh, jeez sorry I didn't realise! Are you okay?"

NiGHTS gripped her heart and breathed a little. Was she alright? In her head, she just felt confusion. What on earth had made her react that badly over a simple misunderstanding? It was, after all, just a miscommunication, why did she feel like she had almost died from the very suggestion? Why was her heart pounding so violently? Was it… her reaction to the thought of her and Reala being…

_No, _she thought firmly, her free hand bailing at her side so strongly her fist had begun to quiver slightly. _That can't be the reason. _

After a while, NiGHTS swallowed thickly.

"I just…" She shook her head. "I'm fine; I just wasn't expecting _tha,t_ I guess." She folded her arms and looked away for a moment, causing Memphis' eyebrow to rise slightly.

"What was it you did to cause you guys to act like… well, that?" He remembered how the crimson jester had destroyed the glass prison in order to try and stop the both of them, though he had to wonder now if he'd even really been a part of the whole thing. For a while, NiGHTS didn't answer as she seemed quite upset over the question, her usually spirited face holding a deep tension that seemed to really trouble her. Memphis wasn't sure whether he'd crossed a line or not.

After a while, NiGHTS simply shrugged and looked away, her eyes to the bright horizon but her chest feeling heavy as lead. "It's… a long story…" The wistful tone to her eloquent words caused Memphis to go quiet, sensing it was a topic the violet-capped being didn't wish to cross at that time. He looked at the Nightopian in his lap as it slept like a rock, the man wondering when it had fallen asleep, and again he smirked at the sight. _Exactly like cats._

Before NiGHTS could perform one of her usual rebound of emotion right back into cheerful again, the female Maren had perked up at something. It was in the air and made her spine stiffen; sending a bit of an unfamiliar chill to rise through the back of her neck and cause the fine hairs that resided there to stand almost completely on-end. She touched her silk-clad fingertips to the centre of the Ideya shard in her chest as she wondered why the sensation felt almost conversant to her, like something was warning her out of familiarity.

Something had happened in the Night Dimension, and it was causing her senses to start screaming in panic.

"Do you feel that?" NiGHTS turned to the Visitor with a perplexed sort of look on her face, her eyes only glancing at him once as she tried to figure out why the atmosphere felt so tense, so _unnerving_. And, for the most part, why she felt as if she had sensed this feeling before, though she wasn't sure where or when. The blue-eyed female didn't know whether she was asking him for an actual answer or whether she was just speaking out loud, but by the questioning look on the blonde's face she gathered he wasn't aware that something in the air had changed.

Memphis glanced away for a moment and kept quiet; trying to figure out what the other was talking about. After a while, he shrugged his shoulders and pocketed his hands. "I'm feeling a lot of things, like majority confusion over this whole dream still but I'm not sure if I feel anything else." The look NiGHTS had on her face –tense and even slightly fearful- caused Memphis to frown. "Hey… are you alright? You look pale."

NiGHTS was quiet for a moment before she snapped upright with a look of great revelation on her face, her cobalt-slitted eyes wide with something she couldn't explain. But she did know something that could possibly reveal the answer. "I have to check on something!"

Before Memphis could so much as think of speaking again NiGHTS had thrown herself into a crazed pursuit in what seemed to be a random direction. The blonde man was taken aback by just how fast she could fly through the air, cutting the atmosphere like a bladed bullet.

Memphis shook his head a little to bring him back into reality. "Check on what?" When the other hadn't stopped, he jogged a few paces forward before cupping his hands around his mouth and attempted to call her back. "Hey! What's with all the craziness all of a sudden?!"

In the distance, Memphis was relieved to see the small image of the jester snap to a halt in another wave of realization that basically hit her like a sack of bricks. She turned and swiftly flew back to the human, stopping a few feet in front of him with a slightly distressed, though apologetic look on her face. "Right, right, sorry about that. I can't exactly leave you out here, now can I? Especially not with Reala so adamant in his mission to steal your Ideya."

Memphis nodded once, starting to become a little fidgety due to the drastic change in emotion NiGHTS was still caught in. She was so anxious, terrified even, but of what he wasn't certain of. After all, he still couldn't feel anything different about the world. The sun was still warm, the air was still fresh. In fact it seemed like absolute paradise. It was another reason why her tension was causing him tension. Maybe this wasn't a dream; maybe it was going to turn out to be a nightmare.

Another one of his nightmares.

Memphis pushed away a frown at his own thoughts and instead feigned a smile. "So I'm okay to follow?"

NiGHTS seemed a little hesitant to answer at first, the violet-capped jester glancing away for a moment as she thought it over. Could she trust him with something like this? Where she was heading… it was one of the biggest and well-kept secrets within the Night dimension, easily. Not even Wizeman the Wicked knew about it… and he was a god. Albeit the god of Nightmare and without any power over Nightopia whatsoever, but he was still a god. One that thought he knew everything there was to know about their existence, and who was confident in his knowledge of the realm of 'reality' –Memphis's world

Still, he did not know everything. And that was one of the only real weapons NiGHTS had against him anymore.

NiGHTS opened her mouth to speak for a moment before she frowned and gently closed it once more. Instead, she simply nodded and turned, flying at a much slower pace as to ensure Memphis could follow with ease. All the while, she was waging a debate with herself over whether or not the human could be let in on the secret she'd held so close to her for so many years.

Ultimately, it was something that could mean life, or death for the entirety of the Night Dimension.

* * *

Memphis mused to himself over the fact the Dream Gate seemed to be an area that was caught in perpetual nightfall, which was a bit of a change from the ever-brighter world of Nightopia. He had to wonder how people like NiGHTS could live in worlds that didn't have regulated night or day, but then again the very concept of a world with a regular cycle of night and day was probably just as strange to the denizens of the Night Dimension. It was something he'd have to ask about when he had the chance, after all his curiosity over so many things about the world was eating him away inside. He would have continued on in asking questions to the graceful female, but now didn't seem the time. She was still really shaken by something, and he could tell that she still wasn't sure what it was. It was all in all distressing her, no matter how much of a brave face of contented deceit she put on.

As if on cue, Owl was right there on the scene to begin his usual routine of explanations to whatever visitors had made their way into the Dream Gate. However he'd doubled back a little to see it was only NiGHTS and the Visitor he'd already met –and who had left him speaking out loud for twenty minutes before he'd realised no one was there to hear him.

He gave a hoot of surprise at the arrival before glancing between them a few times. "NiGHTS, Memphis? What brings you back here?" His pleasant demeanour became slightly worried over the slightly upset look that was in NiGHTS' eyes, causing him to frown a little. "Is everything alright? You look a bit pale, NiGHTS."

"So I've been told." NiGHTS nodded once before she folded her arms a little seriously. It caused Owl to become attentive; he wasn't used to seeing the jester so serious, especially in the presence of a Visitor.

"You noticed that something isn't right in the Night Dimension too?" NiGHTS instantly snapped her eyes over to the elder being, her azure gaze wide with surprise.

"So it isn't just me?" Her crossed arms grew tighter, in more of a self-hugging motion. "Do you have any idea of what could have happened?" Owl shook his head a little, adjusting his glasses further up the golden ridge of his beak. All the while Memphis kept quiet and watched the interaction between the two.

"No, I haven't the faintest idea unfortunately." NiGHTS huffed a little in irritation. Whatever was making her so edgy, she was starting to get frustrated with it. She hated feeling like this, and she especially hated the fact she didn't know why it was happening.

"I have the worst feeling that he might be behind it…" One of her folded arms dropped and so did her shoulders, only slightly, and it caused Owl to immediately fan his wings out in front of him a little.

"Now now, there's no need to become so distressed over something as vague as a funny feeling. Besides, I'm sure that in his weakened state nothing too drastic has happened." NiGHTS didn't seem convinced and only remained with her eyes elsewhere, trying to figure out what was making her so uneasy inside. Memphis watched as the elderly Owl sighed a little, sensing he was trying everything he could to calm the female Maren down a little.

He quickly decided that something needed to break the tense silence. "I hate to interrupt, but who is 'he' exactly?" Owl perked up a little at the chance to lecture some more, instantly switching from vague and serious to utterly energetic in a matter of moments. It seemed all the beings in the Night Dimension had a habit of doing that.

"Oh, right, you must still be rather uninformed of all this. Well, you remember how I explained to you the two sides of the Night Dimension when you first came here? How Nightopia and Nightmare are divided?" Memphis nodded, noticing that NiGHTS had moved to take a seat on the side of the huge, elegantly crafted fountain, idly watching the rippling water with one leg over the other. He noticed the tight sort of look she had on her face.

Owl sighed a little, as if the information was troubling him. "Well, Nightmare is much more different to Nightopia than you believe. Nightmare is ruled over by a very cruel and malevolent ruler, and he is in complete control over it because he was the one that created it."

"Wizeman the Wicked." NiGHTS stated with such poison it had almost caused pain to herself in saying them. If there was one thing that could make her furious, it was the idea of what Wizeman was doing. Everything he was doing.

Owl nodded slowly as he glanced at NiGHTS, knowing just talking about the god was probably causing her much more inner turmoil than she dared to show. The girl had to live every day with the knowledge of her unchangeable ties to Wizeman, and he knew her scars ran deep.

"Yes, his name is Wizeman the Wicked. Whenever a nightmare is formed in the subconscious of a human, he utilizes the chance to steal whatever Ideya he can from them in order to make himself stronger and create newer and more adept Nightmarens. And just like the origins of Nightopia, no one really knows how long Wizeman and Nightmare have been around for and how long they've been at this goal of complete domination. Just that they've always been, for hundreds of your human years and even longer. Wizeman has been around from the very first dream of time itself, and the very first nightmare."

Memphis looked very deep in thought and seemed to be having a bit of a hard time accepting all the information. His dream was becoming more and more real by the minute, way too intricate in design for something his own barely normal psyche to have made up on the spot, like most other dreams were. Or were they? Everything was starting to confuse him. Furthermore, if this was a dream then why hadn't he woken up yet? He felt like he'd been in this world for hours, maybe even the length of a day, shouldn't he have at least woken up from broken sleep like most people do throughout the night? All in all, it was giving him a bit of a head spin.

The teal eyed male suddenly snapped from his trance and gave the feathered old-timer a strange look, screwing his face up a little in confusion. "Wait a minute, are you saying that you're like, hundreds of years old?" He felt that was the best he could do in order to forget the confusion on whether or not this was all just a crack dream.

This time it was both NiGHTS and Owl that gave odd looks of puzzlement, which only caused Memphis to become more confused, even a little worried. The feathered being nodded slowly and adjusted his glasses accordingly. "Well, by your standards, yes actually. In fact NiGHTS here is probably coming up on around five-hundred years old by your count, I do believe."

The purple-capped Maren nodded once before mentioning to the elder owl. "And Owl is even older." Forgetting her previous tension, the jester grinned and shrugged her shoulders flamboyantly. "I'm actually surprised he has royally kicked the bucket yet!"

"Oh." Memphis managed without much else as Owl gave NiGHTS a ruffled look that was clearly saying something along the lines of 'respect your elders you little purple shit'. Memphis frowned a little in thought. _Five hundred years old? Hell, that's some crazy stuff. _Certainly hard to accept at any rate, considering how full of life and energy NiGHTS seemingly was. Well, when she wasn't deep in thought over other things.

After a while, he shook his head before turning his attention back to the purple-capped jester who had begun to lazily drift around in her own flight pattern, smiling at her own trails of shimmering twinkle dust that followed. "Insanity aside, didn't you have something really important you came here for?"

NiGHTS remained completely oblivious for a moment as she drifted upside down and allowed her eyes to glance over the darkened sky eternally filled with shimmering stars, though she quickly grew a look of realization over the words. Doing a graceful forward flip in the air, she straightened and placed her hands on her hips. "Oh! Right, yes there was." She glanced at Owl with a sense of urgency. "It's obvious something isn't right in the night dimension, my Wizey-senses are tingling something shocking. I was thinking that maybe the cave would give off some answers?"

Owl's eyebrows –if the bird even had eyebrows under all those feathers, this narrator certainly doesn't know and isn't about to go shave a bird for some answers- rose a little as he adjusted his specks further up the ridge of his beak. "The cave? That isn't a bad idea actually. It has been a rather long time since we've been there." He turned his attention to the taller human and studied him for a moment. "And what of this visitor? Do you wish to reveal one of the biggest kept secrets in Nightopia, do you believe we can trust him?"

Memphis' eyebrows rose at that, moving to shift his weight from one foot to the other. "I don't mean to intrude but I thought you said visitors were, like, your most valuable asset it the Night Dimension, or at least ones with Red Ideya are. Which I'm apparently sufficient in?" NiGHTS nodded once in answer. "I mean, if you want to keep whatever this secret is that's up to you of course, but I can guarantee that if you ask me to keep a secret I'll keep it."

NiGHTS and Owl were quiet as they glanced at one another, a silent debate waging between them for a moment before the female Maren sighed and folded her arms loosely across her chest. "He does have a point, and he definitely isn't lying. Besides, if Wizeman is really behind this change in the atmosphere then we'll most likely need the aid of a visitor with the Red Ideya of Bravery, just like the other times."

"History certainly has a nasty habit of repeating itself." Owl hooed absentmindedly.

"It isn't history's fault. Wizeman is just a stubborn jerk." The feline-eyed Maren muttered to herself mainly, though loud enough for the both of them to hear anyway. "It's settled then, we'll all go and see just what kind of trouble we're in." NiGHTS returned her hands to her hips and puffed her chest out importantly, her look of worry growing a little softer behind a façade of courage. Inside however, she was still rather troubled. If Wizeman was up to something of course it was bothering her, but with the Red Ideya and the visitor it belonged to on their side they had a more than fighting chance against whatever was starting to stir in the lands of the Night Dimension. From his place, Memphis watched the female grow a tiny smile and nod at him once, as if already thanking him for his aid in a matter he had no real idea about as of yet.

But he had a feeling he'd find out soon enough.

They had walked a fair distance already (well, Memphis walked however Owl and NiGHTS flew there as they do), seemingly circling the island-like world at least twice around since the pale haired human had been told about some kind of cave that would possibly solve all their confusion. The brick path that ran around the floating world's circumference had broken off into a new route and led all three of them down a small path that had ended about halfway down the rocky underside. Every so often Memphis would spare a glance down the the swirling ocean of pitch-black darkness that embraced the island and seemed to stretch on for eternity, keeping close to the inside of the track out of fear of it. After hearing about visitors 'never waking up and never dreaming again' if they ever fell into it, which he knew all too well meant death or maybe coma, Memphis had decided to play it safe and not walk so close to the edge. He had to wonder whether or not the dream was starting to border or a nightmare, but he certainly didn't want to find out. A swirling black ocean of death was a little too extreme to try and play daredevil with, even if this was all a dream.

"You said that visitors don't wake up after falling into that… swirling death vortex I guess is the best way of describing it. Have you ever met anyone that has fallen into it, or is the 'never waking up' thing just a guestimate of what would happen if you decided to take a dip in there?" He glanced back at the ocean for a moment and frowned. "If it isn't true then you have a very effective method of warning."

NiGHTS pulled back a little from her space in front of Memphis and instead floated in-toe with him, the two of them still following in behind Owl. NiGHTS frowned and watched the swirling waves of the ocean beneath her feet, shivering to herself a little. "I have, but not in a long, long time." She glanced at the teal-eyed male and gave a bit of a wry smile. "The very effective method of warning is, well, very effective."

Memphis nodded with an amused, though slightly nervous sort of smile over the information that it was named the Dark Ocean of Nightmare for a reason. Kids actually losing themselves to dreams? That was pretty damn dark. He noticed NiGHTS was still looking towards the swirling water way down below them, her shoulders tense and her lips formed into a tight line.

He chuckled a little. "I'll be sure not to break that record." NiGHTS glanced at him and offered the man a small nod along with a rather thankful smile. Noticing Owl had moved a fair distance away from them, the man moved to catch up in a bit of a jog, leaving NiGHTS to remain in her place and watch him go. Her eyes fell again to the dark ocean, feeling a sickening guilt reach her.

It was such a long time ago, but she still remembered the last people who had disappeared into the abysmal ocean. She remembered their faces, but only with the accompaniment of pure and absolute terror. She could still hear their voices pleading with her not to let them go, their lives literally in one hand as the other deprived them of all their Ideya.

It may have been years since she'd been the kind of person she once was, the kind of corrupt creature Wizeman had created her to be in the beginning… but still the memories haunted her.

The dark ocean of Nightmare hadn't claimed a victim in years… she had not delivered one to it in a long time. But she still had, and the very thought caused her heart to sink heavily. She couldn't ever truly redeem herself for what she'd done to those Visitors long ago.

She could never change the fact she was a Nightmaren… a monster.

xXXXXXx


	4. Black Sheep

**DISCLAIMER: I still don't own NiGHTS and it sucks, but what can you do :P**

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Memphis was quiet as he watched the old owl gently brush his dogwood feathers over a large, flat rock that concealed what he guessed was the hidden mouth of some kind of cave. When they had reached the end of the spiralling path it sort of just, cut off, dropping off into the dark ocean without warning. However on the inside of the track that ran around the rock of the floating island a definite change in the material told Memphis that something hidden remained behind the flat, circular stone.

"Behind there?" Memphis asked in a bit of a whisper to NiGHTS who graciously floated beside him, her arms folded calmly in front of her as she nodded with a bit of a smile. They watched Owl's feathers gently smooth over the dark stone before a series of gold, foreign-looking characters had begun to glow with a gentle, gold light over its surface. Memphis couldn't make out what it said and made a bit of a confused face before turning to the female Maren beside him, who was quiet and attentive despite her usual energetic attitude.

"What does it say?" NiGHTS didn't move for a moment before she shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I've absolutely no idea. That language is completely foreign to both the Night Dimension and your own world, so no one knows what it says. Plus this is the only place in the Night Dimension that the writing exists, so there's nothing to compare it to." She nodded her head towards the huge rock that Memphis now gathered must have been some kind of door, watching as swirling designs of glowing, gold markings snaked their way all across its surface. After a short moment, the entire door gently faded away to reveal a long, dark corridor of cave that kind of looked as though it went on forever. A cold wind howled through the underpass and caused Memphis to go rigid in slight dread over entering such a dark, long and _howling _tunnel system. It was like the beginning of a bad horror movie, but with a floating jester girl instead of a ditsy blonde bombshell, and an oversized owl instead of some stupid jock with the mental capacity of a brick.

"So this is how I die." Memphis lamented with a bit of a sigh, causing NiGHTS beside him to simply chuckle and shoot him a challenging look.

"Come now, you're a grown Visitor! Surely someone like _you _can't be afraid of a little darkness." When Memphis looked at her a little painfully over having to wander a god-knew how long tunnel armed with all the depth perception of the same aforementioned brick, the blue-eyed jester simply grinned. "For shame, Visitor. I mean you literally have the Red Ideya of Courage at your disposal!"

Memphis grew a slightly unhappy look. "I didn't ask for weird glowing hands that are apparently the most valuable thing in existence here. And so what if I'm a moderately jumpy person when I have to wander around in the dark like a blind man? I'm sure you have a fear that is just as silly to anyone else. Everyone is weird about something. I mean I once knew a guy that was afraid of moths. _Moths. _That's definitely weirder than being a little jumpy about dark places." NiGHTS lost her smile to a look of impressed nature over the words, she certainly wasn't expecting that. In fact she hadn't really thought about what she was afraid of in a long while while and it caused her to suddenly grow a look of thought over the matter. Memphis smiled in the tired sort of way he usually did. "So? Are you going to tell me what the jester with the energy of a twelve-year old is scared of?"

NiGHTS chuckled and gently began to drift her way into the dark tunnel, soon out of sight from Memphis' teal-eyed gaze but her amused words echoing back to him. "Yeah right, as if I'd just give that away to any old person. I guessed yours, if you want to know what I'm afraid of you'll have to just guess as well." Memphis stepped closer to the thick darkness of the tunnel before NiGHTS had poked her head out of it, startling him if only just. She gave a spirited wink at the Visitor and raised her hand to point it directly at him. "A hint though: It starts with No and ends with 'thing."

Memphis rolled his eyes for a moment before gently pocketing his hands, laughing at the energetic behaviour or the smaller being. He had a feeling it would be a challenge just keeping up with her, and her boisterous, sometimes airy attitude, but it would certainly make for an interesting ride.

After a while, Memphis huffed a little, an amused smirk on his as he gently eased his way into the cool darkness of the cavern. "Yeah right, as if I'm gonna believe that. By the end of the day, or night, or however time works in this place, I bet you I'll find out what you're afraid of."

From somewhere deep in the tunnel, her words resonating through the cylindered formation of the rocks around them rather loudly, NiGHTS hummed a little before ending with a bit of a laugh and a simple: "You're on, Visitor."

Memphis had stumbled several times in the disorienting darkness and had probably let out enough colourful language to make one of those Nightopian creatures have a nervous breakdown. NiGHTS and Owl had given him some directional support every now and then but he's been pretty much fending for himself for the last ten minutes, getting lost halfway between up and down, right and left and pretty much all three dimensions of what was nothing but pitch blackness. Whatever he was being shown better have been pretty damn awesome and worth the elongated trek through nothing but disorientation.

When he'd stepped in some kind of freezing puddle of what he'd hoped to all hell was just water, the blonde stopped and made a highly unamused noise before shivering slightly and kicking his foot out in an attempt to shake the liquid off. He didn't glance up when he'd heard NiGHTS and Owl beginning to talk up ahead, but when he'd heard the ever-energetic accent of NiGHTS call out to him he turned to see a dull, but definite light glowing at the end of the long tunnel. The silhouetted form of the purple jester waved to him, and even with the light from behind causing her lithe form to be all but a dark shadow Memphis noticed her azure-slit eyes seemed to glow in the dark a little.

"Hey Memphis! Hurry up and get your butt in here, this is the place we were talking about!" The teal eyed man didn't say anything as he moved to catch up with the two beings, noticing that the further he moved into the light the more it seemed that everything about his situation felt better, like the light was calming him thoroughly.

He really hoped he wasn't dead or walking into a train's headlights.

The pale haired man didn't say anything as his teal stare washed over the large cavern the smaller tunnel had opened up into, his mouth slightly parting as he suddenly understood, at least a little bit anyway, as to why they had told them how important this place was. Needless to say, it was really, really pretty. And most assuredly important-looking.

It wasn't a very large space, but the black rock of the Dream Gate was ignited in a sea of glowing colours emitting from various huge, spiked clusters of differently coloured crystals. The mounds of illuminated crystals seemed to be lined in a bit of a hexagonal circle around them as Memphis moved to stand in the centre of it, feeling his body becoming filled with a strange sense of energy. The rock of the cavity was decorated in dark markings and seemed to be split down the middle –one side covered with soft, swirling black designs and the other jagged, tribal-like gold markings. He looked at his hands after feeling the crystals seemingly begin to hum in their presence, his eyes widening a little when the red light of his Ideya had started to shine brightly.

His eyebrows knitted together as he kept his eyes on his hands, rolling them a little and watching the light from within gently follow. "What… is this place?" His voice was small and confused, causing NiGHTS to appear beside him with a calm smile and her hands placed confidently on her hips, as they usually were. This may have been the best kept secret of Nightopia, but she knew in her heart that this Visitor wasn't one for them to be fearful of knowing about it. He had a pure heart, there was no doubt, and along with this cave they had a more than fighting chance against Wizeman if they so happened to need it.

"I myself am not exactly sure what this place is, it's been around even before I came to live in Nightopia. Owl told me that it's been around possibly from the very beginning of the Night Dimension." She watched the red glow of his hands and felt a spark in her own Ideya shard over it, smiling a little to herself at the possibility of putting Wizeman away for good this time. She knew he would stop at nothing to overtake Nightopia and eventually the Waking World where Memphis came from, and any possibility of thwarting his plans completely _this time around_ was well worth giving a Visitor the secret of the Ideya Cave, a place that not even Wizeman seemed to know about. If he did he would have destroyed it already, or even overtaken it in order to use it for his own personal gain, seeing this place was literally the only area in the Night Dimension that had naturally occurring deposits of Ideya. All of them were found in this cave, growing naturally or at least looking as if they were, amidst black-rock walls that were painted in contrasting symbols -but they had never known why. Not even Owl was certain what the cave meant and he'd lived forever. All they knew was that whenever something huge happened in the Night Dimension, whether it was in Nightopia or in the dark realm of Nightmare, the cave would react accordingly. It gave them the upper hand on events in Nightmare, like the launches of invasions or upheaval in general.

They couldn't explain why this place existed; after all they always assumed Ideya was only ever created from the hearts of Visitors. Yet the crystals that grew in huge pillars all around them were definitely Ideya, in all their glowing colours of Hope, Intelligence, Growth, Purity, and even the crimson hue of Courage. Owl had told her it was possibly why the Dream Gate even existed, and why Visitors only ever came into the Night Dimension via it. Like some sort of homing beacon.

Though in her heart of hearts NiGHTS had a feeling this place was much, much more important than a simple beacon to Visitors. And she'd always had the feeling Owl knew this as well. But, if it did mean more, and Owl was purposely keeping something from her –being the usually honest old owl he was, it meant it was not her place to ask.

She was, after all, still a Nightmaren, and while her blood still ran in her veins, others had theirs spilt. And all by her own hands.

This cave was a pure place, one without sin. And even if she was pure of heart now, she still wasn't without her own demons.

And that means she'd never truly belong to this place, or Nightopia.

"Looks like you were right NiGHTS, I believe the Cave is definitely reacting to some activity in Nightmare." Owl's voice cut through the heavy atmosphere surrounding NiGHTS' and the equally heavy silence Memphis was caught in, the two younger beings glancing over at the ancient bird quickly with equally surprised looks on their faces.

NiGHTS tilted her head slightly. "Do you have any idea what's happening over there to make it react?" She frowned a little, a tight look growing on her features. "That alone is enough to make me feel uneasy. I was really hoping it was nothing and that Wizeman"

Owl nodded slowly, eyeing both Nights and the Visitor with a serious face. "I was too, but there's no denying the way the Ideya in these crystals are reacting." He hesitated in his next words, gently brushing his feathered wing over the nearest Ideya pillar –cobalt in colour for its wisdom. He wasn't sure if his information was correct, but it was definitely something he'd seen before, and that was proof enough that something had definitely happened in Nightmare. "There's no doubt in my mind NiGHTS, that the only time this place reacted in such a way… was the night you and Reala were created."

For a moment, the violet-capped jester's mind didn't manage to register the words. After a long, tense while, it suddenly clicked. "…What?" NiGHTS was quiet with her words as her cyan-clad eyes widened in disbelief and confusion over what that exactly meant. Whatever the meaning, she could already feel her body growing deathly cold. "W-what does that mean Owl?!"

Owl adjusted his glasses further up the ridge of his beak, forming a bit of a tight, uneasy frown. "The only explanation I can come up with… is that another 1st Class Nightmaren has been created at the hands of Wizeman. That would also explain why you immediately reacted to it before, because of your ties to Reala."

That was the first time NiGHTS didn't care that her identity as a Nightmaren had been revealed to a Visitor, instead she was revelling in the shock that Wizeman could have possibly done such a thing. Her mouth opened and tried to form words, but nothing arrived. She swallowed thickly, before her head bowed and shook a little. "That… there's no way…"

Owl sighed and shrugged, trying to find the right words to explain. Who knew what this would mean for the Night Dimension, and to their chances at stopping the malevolent god. He wished it wasn't true, but there was no denying it. He could read these Ideya crystals fairly well, and he knew for a fact a 1st Class had been created.

He raised a wing to his beak and cleared his throat a little. "I could be wrong… but there's no denying how flawlessly the signs are matching up."

NiGHTS' silken-gloved hands formed tight fists as she whirled around to face away from the others, away from the light of the Ideya. She didn't want to be calmed by the light of the white Ideya of Purity, or allow her scarred heart to heal in the light of Growth. She just wanted Wizeman to be _stopped _already! Was that so much to ask?

She was sick of fighting, and now there would just be more of it.

Just her luck.

Memphis seemed to be pretty accepting of the truth that NiGHTS was in fact a Nightmaren, to both Owl and the female's relief. Owl would have been quieter over NiGHTS' origins, for he knew she was in no way the person she once was back in her early days. But just like the female Maren he could tell this Visitor was different from the others, and so he felt it was alright to just slip the information by. In his own quietness over the revelation, he nodded once in thanks to the blonde man for soundlessly understanding the need for silence and not bringing it to attention. It was obvious NiGHTS was distressed, and this adult was learned enough to stay quiet and focus on the real issue at hand.

Mainly the possible start of the long-since feared invasion of Nightmare; beginning with the creation of a new soldier in NiGHTS' stead.

* * *

It had been a day since the creation of the 1st Class before he'd finally showed signs of being properly alive, and Reala regrettably had to admit that it was a day of his own time wasted. The older Nightmaren had tried to focus on anything but the new male and how much he hated being chosen to play his mentor, but every time he successfully managed to forget the fact it would just come swooping into his brain screaming and carrying on like a seagull on fire about how he was being replaced in the ranks.

So, there he was, and had been for the past hour outside of Wizeman's huge, elegantly crafted double-doors that led into his personal quarters. The god had summoned him earlier in wait for the new recruit, who was alive and apparently kicking with vigour, and because Reala had nothing better to do he'd basically remained leaning on the opposite wall, his shoulders extremely tense and his scarred arms folded across his chest. His eyes hadn't moved from their positions that burned into the heavy timber of the huge entryway, the slitted orbs meeting with the dark, painted symbol of one of Wizeman's own serpentine eye that marked the centre of both doors. He stared directly into it, as if he was challenging the god in his own personal way. It was the best he could do to vent his anger over the matter, considering he could never speak up against the real Wizeman. That, and he knew Wizeman wouldn't listen anyway.

Reala grumbled inaudibly to himself as he sighed in annoyance over the fact he was so tired of waiting for this stupid new recruit. Wizeman was obviously briefing him on everything, but did it have to take this _long? _He could have gotten so many other things done by now if he hadn't been ordered to wait out there like one of the 3rd Class drones or someone of equally wasted space. Had Wizeman forgotten who he was? The head of the Nightmaren army _and_ his second in command? He had a lot to do, and surely the god must have known that. He was the one that gave him so many things to do after all! It was absolutely degrading.

He drummed an impatient rhythm with his curved fingernails across one of his powerful arms, enjoying the feeling of how the skin was tight over his muscular form and proved his status of the strongest mercenary in the army. One sweet, right-handed hook from him in the face and he could kill someone. He smirked at the prospect, deciding he'd have to try and prove that fact to himself later on. When he wasn't stuck babysitting the hopeless bastard that existed beyond Wizeman's doors.

"Top of the morning to you, Sparkelface! How goes the babysitting job?"

Reala groaned and lost his previous smirk. If he was lucky, maybe a good one of his punches in the face would one day kill Jackle.

He simply sighed back the irritation in his head. "Do you ever have any strategy to your stupid nicknames or are they all just random, stupidity induced ticks of a possible Tourette's nature?" Reala simply remarked with a bothered look on his face. Jackle's emerald eyes became wide as he gasped like a genuine drama-queen. He could have put Puffy to shame with that one.

A gloved hand came up to clasp at his chest before he seemed to feign a heart attack over the words. "How dare you not recognise my magnificent genius in giving relevant nicknames!?" The same gloved hand reached up and flicked Reala's persona so that became lopsided on his face "I was referring to your glorious mask, 'o wise and noble leader."

Reala frowned in distaste but simply fixed his Persona back into place, having learned to merely ignore the 2nd Class' wacky, even psychotic antics. He played the role of overly-annoying brother to the hilt. "The kid is already annoying the shit out of me, and I haven't even met him properly yet. How you you think it's going?"

Jackle's dark eyebrow rose over the spiteful use of words. Usually Reala wasn't that blunt and lacking fluency unless he was drunk –which was pretty much _never_ since NiGHTS had gone AWOL. It caused Jackle to grin like a mad man. "That bad? I would have thought you of all people would have more patience than that. That's why you get to train soldiers and the rest of us don't."

Reala glanced at him for a moment with a blank look. "I thought it was because the last time you were put in charge of training a student you bet them in a poker match as currency… and _lost._"

Jackle shrugged and drew out his deck of cards as if on cue. "Hey, it wasn't my fault I lost all my money and had to use the kid instead! And if he hadn't whined so much and just accepted his fate as being a money substitute then maybe Wizeman wouldn't have chucked a hissy fit about it and banned the 2nd Classes from training soldiers."

Reala couldn't help but snort in amusement and shake his head at the ramblings of the gold-capped Maren. He may have been absolutely insane with the social grace of a four year old, but there was never a dull moment when he was around.

"Yeah, well do that to this one and I can guarantee you that Wizeman won't just take away your privileges; he'll most likely make you _really_ regret it. Maybe castrate you." Jackle pulled a horrified face for a moment and almost dropped his cards, his usually shadowy skin turning several shades of paleness. It caused Reala a great deal of amusement to see such a shocked reaction in the other, and the fact Jackle had obviously forgotten the fact he didn't really have an actual body. Messing with people was certainly a great way to spend the time. He'd even forgotten why he'd been so ticked before.

It was short lived however when the two of them had heard the click of the huge, heavy doors suddenly unlock themselves and begin to creak open. Slowly, very slowly. Reala's bad mood instantly settled itself back onto his shoulders, feeling as if the dragging creak of the huge doors were only there to mock him. His fingers tensed around his arm as his eyes narrowed, both Jackle and himself going completely silent as the door gently came to a stop. For a moment nothing seemed to happen. But, sure enough, a few moments later a semi-familiar, ram-horned head had poked itself through the open doors, looking a little lost at first before his slitted eyes landed on both Reala and Jackle.

Stepping out of the doors fully to reveal his now completely clothed form –to Reala's slight relief, the new 1st Class took one last look at the opened doors before they had begun to lazily close once more, seemingly by themselves as usual. He itched the side of his head -which was now covered in a sapphire blue and navy-ringed hat- a little nervously, looking rather out of place and lost on what he was supposed to do. His face wasn't covered by a Persona yet -which would be given to him as a rite of passage by Wizeman himself, but it did have a healthy amount of colour to it now. He had a princely sort of look about him –with an onyx-coloured vest over an elegant, white collared shirt, black dress pants that faded into white at the ankles and the whole thing separated by a gold-studded belt. It seemed his primary colour was blue at the long, flowing overcoat of royal cobalt with gold offcuts that circled his form in a sophisticated manner, the tips of the coat ending just above the ground and at the sides of ivory, heeled dress shoes. Reala simply tried to take in the new figure without scowling. The little bastard even had a small, white and blue-sashed top hat to pull it all off.

The younger 1st Class quickly made his way over to the two and gave a slightly hesitant look, his heeled shoes hitting the ground with soft clicks. "Um… Reala, is it?"

His slight accent was like nails on a chalkboard to Reala's already aggravated mind. The crimson jester couldn't hold back the disgust he was feeling, instantly scowling as his eyes became dark. "That's _Lord Reala _to you, novice." He'd spoken the words with absolute loathing for the younger male. The new Nightmaren had already gotten off to a devastatingly horrible start, and Reala was going to make sure he knew it.

Realising his mistake, the sapphire Maren's eyes went wide as his stance became rigid with realization. "R-right, please forgive me-" the sound of Wizeman's double doors slamming closed made the boy jump at least a foot into the air, causing Jackle to grin and start giggling like a mental case and Reala to simply roll his eyes. After he'd calmed down, the youngest of the trio bowed respectfully to the scarred Maren. "Lord Reala."

"That's better. You'd be wise to remember that not addressing a superior by the correct title is a punishable mistake." Keeping in his bowed state, the ram-horned male nodded slowly. Day one and he was already up shit creek with his teacher. It had to be a record.

"Yes sir…" His voice was quiet and completely subjugated.

Reala groaned to himself. _For Wizeman's sake this kid has no backbone whatsoever. Where the hell is the fight, or at least the strength? There's no way he's going to last a week._ True, he'd want his complete obedience in their training, that was a given in the Army of Nightmare. But from personal experience, Reala knew that those who had fiery spirits went the distance, and those who had no ability to fight for themselves would simply be left behind. Maybe he was just expecting too much in too short of time… but that's what he was used to.

Reala unfolded his arms and allowed his strong aura to flood the younger Nightmaren. "Right now, the 3rd Classes are of more worth than you are. If you wish to really fight at my side as my new partner, then you'll have to earn your place –just like I did. And if you can't handle it well then that's your problem, not mine. Understood?" Reala's words had such bite to them even Jackle had to keep quiet and watch, gradually losing his manic grin to a look of wonder. Of all the years he'd known Reala, it never ceased to amaze him how his rather volatile attitude could switch from calm one moment to absolutely terrifying the next, ultimately scaring the living daylights out of anyone who crossed him. So when Reala was in a bad mood, _everyone_ knew about it. And boy, was he in a lousy mindset today.

After a while of heated eye contact between the two 1st Class Nightmarens, their contrasting shades of blue visions holding clashing emotions of utter contempt against fear, Reala stepped back and placed his hands on his hips. He tapped a clawed finger against the golden hue of his belt almost impatiently as he sized up the newly revived boy, wondering what would be the best thing to get started on. If he tried hand-to-hand combat or weapons training this early he couldn't trust himself to not kill the kid, and if that happened then Wizeman would have a fit. He guessed the best thing would be an introduction to Nightmare and everything; 1st Classes may not have required an education, but they did need a lowdown of why they were created along with their goals and things.

Jackle regained his air of craziness and turned to the new kid, earning a bit of a nervous look from the other. He didn't know who this gold Nightmaren was or why he was smiling at him like that, but he didn't like it. Jackle's eyes flashed as he swiftly shuffled his cards. "Oi Reala, if you can't figure out what to do with this kid I could always give him a lesson on poker and how fundamentally important it is to society."

"Using bigger words than what you're usually capable of isn't going to make you any less wrong, Jackle." Reala quipped back without looking at the hook-horned 2nd Class, which only earned him a burst of maniacal cackling in reply as Jackle went off to do whatever it he was meant to be doing. Which he'd probably end up blowing off anyway. Jackle was, after all, the residential boycotter of anything important he was assigned. Without looking at the shorter Nightmaren, Reala gave an inwards groan and decided it was probably best to start the introduction to all things Nightmare. He stopped and turned to the sapphire-capped jester, folding his great arms over his chest. "First thing you should know is that no matter what, under any circumstances are you to believe anything Jackle says. And never accept an invitation to one of his poker matches less you want to do a walk of shame in nothing but your own skin."

"That guy back there?" The younger male asked in a bit of a half-registering attitude as he glanced back to the place Jackle had previously been. He was no longer in the long stretch of hall whatsoever, seemingly disappearing out of existence. The shorter Maren's eyebrows -or lack thereof, knitted together as he glanced back at Reala. "Is he that good?"

Reala snorted. "Infuriatingly good." The words of the crimson Maren still held a venomous edge, but Reala was glad the student understood the rule of only speaking when spoken to. Saved him having to beat the lesson into the new 1st Class. He dropped his arms and turned to leave in a dignified march, not bothering to wait for the other who was still gazing down the long stretch of hall. When the younger 1st Class had arrived back at his side, following slightly behind him however, Reala kept his eyes forward as he addressed the boy with a slightly annoyed tone. "Though beside the point. Today will be an introductory course for you in regards to the Castle of Nightmare and Nightmare as a whole." The scarred Maren suddenly glanced at the other, realising he had no idea what his name was. "Has Wizeman given you a name yet?"

"Oh, um…" The boy didn't look at him for a moment, seemingly having trouble remembering the name he would have been given in the previous meeting with Wizeman. It annoyed Reala that the kid didn't seem to know how to properly function on his own as of yet, probably still a little drained from his creation only three days before. Hell, everything annoyed him, but that was just his nature. After a moment, young and inexperienced eyes found their way back into Reala's cold stare. "SAiNTS, I think."

"You think or you know? You aren't much use to our organization if you can't remember your own name." Reala thought over the title for a moment. It wasn't that impressive.

The boy, who seemed to be a little disheartened by the irritated tone Reala simply couldn't let go of, bowed his head a little. "It's SAiNTS, sir."

"Better." Reala remarked without much else as he turned a corner, SAiNTS following silently in behind. As they passed huge, open windows, the younger of the two couldn't help but gaze out at the dark world as they passed by. Reala slowed down a little, hating having to wait for the boy but understanding that he needed time to adapt. He stopped at one of the windows and watched with slightly illuminated eyes as SAiNTS moved to the windowsill and gazed down at the world that was so new to him. The older of the two was quiet as he watched the other's eyes fill with absolute wonder and curiosity, just as any young Nightmaren would do.

Just like he did at one point, when the world was just as new to him and NiGHTS. But that was so long ago…

In an instant Reala had to wonder if that's what was really bothering him about the new 1st Class. Maybe he was just frustrated because when he looked at SAiNTS a part of his mind simply saw himself. Back when he wasn't broken and twisted.

Back when he had NiGHTS.

He instantly forced the thoughts out of his mind with a bit of a repressed hiss in the back of his throat. The last thing he needed was to start connecting dots to things that weren't even there. NiGHTS had nothing to do with this situation, so why did he suddenly think about her seemingly out of nowhere? He couldn't understand his own mind nowadays. And it was driving him crazy.

Hoping the feeling would pass, Reala gently folded his arms behind his back and decided to distract himself. "This entire world was created by Master Wizeman, and he is the father of all the Nightmarens within the Night Dimension. Because of his energy that is in literally everything in Nightmare, we Nightmarens don't need much food or liquids to sustain us and just by staying in Nightmare any wounds or illnesses a Nightmaren receives will eventually heal of its own accord. However this rule only applies to this side of the Night Dimension, we need to look after ourselves and not be so careless in places like Nightopia or the Waking World where all Visitors live. The only place where someone from the Night Dimension can truly die however is in the Waking World." He glanced at the younger Maren, who was now watching him with wide and attentive eyes. Reala gave a serious look to the sapphire jester, a warning more than anything. "If the off chance occurs that any denizen of the Night Dimension cannot return to this world and become stuck in the world of the humans, it will gradually drain them of all their energy and eventually cause them to fade from existence."

Reala returned his azure gaze back to the dark world that seemed to stretch on forever around the huge castle, eventually turning away from the window and beginning to walk down the hall once more. This time he marched at a slower pace, his arms still folded loosely behind his back as he allowed the younger Maren to keep up with him. At least it seemed as though he was taking all the information in now. Reala frowned to himself and inwardly sighed in lament of his situation. He could feel the other's eyes watching him like some irritating little brother. It was going to be like this until the boy matured and learned to do things on his own, and even if it would only take about a month or so, any time spent with the sapphire jester just seemed too long. Reala wasn't good at dealing with kids, in case anyone in Nightmare hadn't noticed already.

The crimson-capped Maren dropped his hands to his sides for lack of anything better to do. "But you can bet your life that if the Waking World doesn't kill you, then on your return Master Wizeman certainly will. He hates the human world with a passion and won't tolerate his soldiers lingering there for any amount of time longer than necessary."

SAiNTS jumped forward a couple of steps until he was walking in-toe with the commanding Nightmaren, his eyes still filled with curiosity. "Master Wizeman seems a bit melodramatic at times, doesn't he?" When Reala looked at the boy with a surprised sort of emotion on his face, the sapphire jester simply gave a bit of a light-hearted grin. "The meeting he had me in before was two-thirds of him basically complaining about everything we're enemies with."

Ignoring the comments about the dark god, Reala stopped for a moment. "So you know everything about our goals and such?" The crimson-capped Maren hoped he did, it would save a lot of long-winded explanations like the one he'd given before.

SAiNTS nodded once before he stood straight –as if he were at attention, though his light-hearted sort of grin told Reala that he was just doing it in a joking manner. "We have been created for the sole purpose of aiding our god Master Wizeman in his plans to take over all worlds, as well as the capture or defeat of the rogue 1st Class NiGHTS, as she along with the aid of Visitors are the main enemy to our Master at the current time." The shorter Maren eased himself into a casual stance before itching the side of his head. "Or something like that anyway."

Reala watched him for a moment. He was impressed at the boy's ability to remember things so easily on his first introductory course. He nodded in approval. "Very good, you seem to have a head for knowledge. Be sure to take in all that you can so you won't have to bother anyone else for help. The Nightmaren Army only works together on the field of battle, many of the classes in this castle tend to keep to themselves when off-duty."

SAiNTS rose an eyebrow. "Except Jackle?"

Reala nodded once. "Except Jackle. But his reason for it is just that he just gets lonely without people there to annoy the living hell out of." When the shorter jester nodded with a bit of a livelier smile now that he was getting used to his existence, Reala decided to continue walking, this time choosing the path that would take them to the 1st Class' sleeping chambers. He gathered that the kid probably would tire quicker than he would, especially if they got into some training that day, so Reala thought it best to show him where he could sleep and recover if need be. Better than just collapsing in some random hallway and being at the mercy of Nightmarens who adored pranking their fellow brethren.

You guessed Jackle? Then you win.

"The kitchens and dining halls are a few levels lower than this, but not many of the people here use them. If anyone needs to eat they just get what they need and go, so you can choose whether or not you want to use the halls. There are 3rd Class' always in the kitchens so if you want anything specific you only need to ask." Reala paused for a moment in thought. "But like I said, you don't really need to eat if you choose not to; you'll always be kept alive by the power of Nightmare. It is a beneficial thing to have a bit of a balanced diet though, just for bodily growth and development. Always try to keep it balanced."

"Classy joint." SAiNTS murmured as he wondered what exactly food tasted like. In fact he wondered what tasting even felt like; he still hadn't done much aside from, well, being created. He felt like a bit of a derp in that moment.

A few minutes of walking and the turning of a few corners before finally descending a flight of massive stairs had led Reala and SAiNTS into the long, huge hallway that existed as the living quarters of the 1st Classes. Reala frowned to himself. He knew he would have to walk past NiGHTS' old room again, and yet again he felt really uneasy about doing so. Obviously he had no choice but to show the newest 1st Class where he'd eventually be permanently housed when a new room was made for him, but that didn't mean he had to fool himself into thinking the violet coated door didn't leave that strange ache in his chest.

Reala stopped walking when they'd reached the middle of the huge hallway, taking a moment to gaze around the moonlit hallway. "This is the hall of the 1st Classes. Obviously you don't have a room here as of yet, it still needs to be built into the castle by Master Wizeman, but eventually you'll be placed here. Until then you will probably be given a temporary place in one of the spare rooms on the level below this one." Reala noticed one of the huge, dark drapes had fallen loose from its tied position and walked over to idly wrap one of the gold, plaited ropes back around the velvet material. "Each Class of Nightmaren in this castle have a whole floor dedicated to them as a living space, and naturally the 1st Class' is the quietest and most spacious –at the very top of the castle beneath Wizeman's own throne room." He turned to the shorter, blue-eyed Nightmaren and stood tall, proudly crossing his arms over his chest. "This is because out of all of Master Wizeman's creations, the 1st Classes are the absolute highest of rank. We are Lord Wizeman's right-hand men, and if anything were to happen to him then we would be the ones to take over and rule Nightmare. He created the 1st Classes as apprentice gods, as heirs to his throne and his power, so that even if he were to die, his goals would never go unfinished. However that time probably won't come into effect for a long time, as Master Wizeman is able to resurrect himself and any of his fallen Nightmarens each time he's 'defeated' by Visitors."

SAiNTS was silent for a while, a thoughtful look on his face as he gazed over to the end wall of the long, large hall. To the wall that was marked with a huge, black print of one of Wizeman's iconic slitted eyes. He glanced down at his palms for a moment, his hands now clad in black gloves that were fashioned to leave his index fingers uncovered –kind of like what a pool player would wear. He curled his fingers inwards to look at the two exposed nails. They were slightly long and were completely black, but weren't curved and pointed as deadly talons like Reala's were. "His power is that incredible? It's like he can do anything…" SAiNTS glanced back over at Reala with a misplaced sort of look on his face –one that Reala couldn't quite decipher. "So if he's this powerful; able to create worlds entirely by himself, stop himself from ever truly dying and create these incredible creatures without using so much as handful of power, why hasn't he taken over the worlds yet?"

Reala's eyes narrowed at that, growing irritated at the obvious naivety within the boy. "It isn't like he simply chooses not to go out and complete our goals." His voice snapped at SAiNTS and caused the younger Maren to go silent, dropping his hands to his sides as Reala became tense once more. "The reason he repeatedly has to resurrect himself is because there are people who continuously stop at nothing to defeat him once and for all. Master Wizeman is possibly the strongest force within the Night Dimension, but that doesn't mean he can't make mistakes. And the very thing he failed on is the reason he cannot succeed just yet."

Watching the crimson jester closely, SAiNTS could see there was something other than annoyance in his eyes as he spoke the last words. There was something that was really shaking Reala. After a while, his slightly accented words revealed themselves slowly. "NiGHTS."

Reala nodded once, still holding that tension within his face. "As long as NiGHTS is there to stand up against Master Wizeman, Nightmare can't win. As infuriating as it is, NiGHTS and the power of the Ideya that Visitors have is possibly the only thing that can stand up against the Lord of Nightmare. As long as she remains at large, Master Wizeman has to hold off on launching his invasion and takeover plans." The older Nightmaren sighed in a bit of a huff, his annoyance shining through easily as he turned from SAiNTS' attentive gaze of azure. "Hence why you were created. Because NiGHTS and I are perfectly matched, it is impossible for me to completely defeat her and thus impossible for Master Wizeman to fully let his plans to come to fruition…" He paused, still unable to look SAiNTS in the eye. He was so angry that it was burning his mind. He just wanted to be away from the new Nightmaren, to be away from all of this and the fact he felt absolutely pathetic. His room was only a few metres down the hall, he could always just tell SAiNTS to screw off and slam the door in his face, but what good would it do? Wizeman would just go off at him for it. He folded his arms and sighed softly to himself, in defeat. He couldn't ever win, against anyone. "You're the black sheep. And because of it Wizeman is confident his plans will no longer result in failure."

Reala's tight expression loosened completely in surprise when he'd realised he had forgot to refer to their lord as 'master'. It was the first time in… well; ever that he'd forgotten his place, and it made him start to panic. What did that mean? Did it even mean anything; was he starting to forget his place? Was he starting to become like NiGHTS did when she first started thinking about mutiny? His heart began to throw a fit inside his chest as he gently touched a corner of his persona, as if to remind himself that he was still indeed every bit as loyal as he was at the start of the day. Still, even with such a tiny slip of the tongue, he had to wonder if it really was nothing…

…Or if it was the start of something much, much bigger.

"Who's rooms are these?" SAiNTS' innocently curious voice had snapped Reala from his violent stupor, noticing the younger male had begun wandering over to the end of the hall where both his and NiGHTS' empty rooms still existed as complete and utter opposites. After reading the gold lettering imprinted onto the violet covered door, SAiNTS gave a bit of a stupid look. "Oh, right this is NiGHTS' old room." He turned and pointed idly at the crimson door behind him. "And I'm guessing this is…?"

"My own personal quarters, yes." Reala hung back for a bit but eventually folded his arms in more of a self-embrace than anything. "I'm giving you a light-hearted warning now to never under any circumstance bother me when I'm in my room; in fact it's probably a good idea to treat every Nightmaren in the same manner. It's dangerous to disturb a resting Nightmaren, especially a 1st Class." SAiNTS glanced at him for a moment, offering an understanding nod before turning back to the purple entryway. Reala frowned and slowly walked to stand near the other, both their eyes sweeping over the door of the lost, but never forgotten 1st Class.

The sapphire jester tilted his head slightly in wonder. "So what's she like?" Reala didn't glance at the younger Maren, but his eyes widened slightly at the question. He wasn't exactly expecting a conversation about NiGHTS that wouldn't be to do with how much of a traitorous villainess she was. As if reading his mind, SAiNTS turned to the slightly taller jester again. "I mean, other than being such an 'insubordinate scoundrel' as she is."

Reala's eyes narrowed slightly as he met the other's cobalt gaze. "You basically described her in those two words. Nothing else is important. NiGHTS is our enemy, and the only thing worth knowing about her is the weaknesses we can use against her." Reala shifted his crossed arms a little out of tension over the conversation, subconsciously beginning to drum his clawed fingers over his pale skin as he continued watching the door closely –as if it were alive and waiting for the opportune moment to reach out and strike him. It was a weird feeling, and one he didn't want to know the answer as to why. Luckily SAiNTS seemed too naïve to sense his frustration.

The sapphire-clad Nightmaren gave a bit of a chuckle at the words, his cyan-eyed gaze admiring how delicate the golden patterns on the door were in contrast to Reala's. It was the main reason why he wanted to know about NiGHTS –the real NiGHTS, as he had been told about how Reala and her were once partners and close friends. "Oh come on Lord Reala, you knew her better than anyone right?" The choice of words earned him a darkened scowl that probably would have been accompanied by a venomous snarl if not for SAiNTS to have suddenly waved his hands a little in defence. "Oh, uh well bad choice of words aside, Master Wizeman told me about how you two were pretty close… Obviously she is a traitor and the enemy, but I guess it'd just be something else to hear what she's like in your own words. Especially if you did know more about her than anyone else."

Reala continued to glare at the shorter Maren for quite some time, studying the innocent sort of curiosity in his cyan-eyed gaze with a burning anger in the back of his head. It was like this kid was unintentionally trying to make him angry by causing him to think about NiGHTS every other minute, and whenever she entered his mind he would eventually become irritated or even furious for no apparent reason. He hated it beyond belief, especially when the anger would only lead to a stranger feeling within his chest, something that felt as if it physically ached. After a while, Reala turned away from the younger male, unsure of how to start or even if he wanted to. Every time he'd ever really described NiGHTS to another it was always with negative words. This was probably the first time he'd ever been asked to talk about her personality, that he knew was in no way evil. Traitorous, sure, but never evil.

"She was…" Reala seemed to lose track of his words, shaking his head a little before trying again. "She is… someone who never truly belonged here to begin with."

SAiNTS tilted his head a little, watching as Reala's eyes seemed to become hazed with deep, unreadable emotion. "What do you mean?"

The crimson jester half-sighed, failing to lift his eyes as his thoughts consumed him. As soon as compassion had seemed to reach the older Nightmaren it was gone, Reala's bright eyes becoming tense once more as he scowled. "She was too soft. She may have been a 1st Class, but she never had the raw instinct to kill like so many others under Master Wizeman's rule." Reala made sure this time to use the god's formal title, as to not slip into an unspeakable habit. If Wizeman were to ever hear him then it would be absolute hell. Reala had intended the words to be an insult, but he knew that they had come across as all but soft, and a little hurt. He didn't know why his words had faulted, but it made him even more irritated. Taking another breath, he calmed himself and gazed over at the wall that was marked with the eye of the god of Nightmare. "She… was unlike anyone else that has ever existed in Nightmare. Maybe that's why she left, because all along she didn't belong in this place. She may have had the same blood and build of a 1st Class Nightmaren, but her heart was always different. She was never like the rest of us…"

Reala was quiet for a long time, feeling as though he couldn't continue. It wasn't that he didn't want to or that it was bothering him, it was more because the words seemed to fall apart. He forgot where he was going with it, focusing on the words he'd already spoken instead. NiGHTS never had been one of them, he knew it. Hell everyone knew it, ever since his and her creation. The female 1st Class always had something about her that never truly found its place among the darkness of Nightmare, and she was never truly beneath the rule of Wizeman.

His eyes drifted elsewhere for a moment, his dark lips forming into a frown. A slightly guilty frown, even.

All that time sensing she wasn't just a normal Nightmaren… He should have seen her rebellion coming all those years ago.

"Ah…" Reala shook his head a little, trying to push the heavy feeling of unwanted nostalgia away from his mind for perhaps the seventh time that day. He unfolded his arms and turned to the younger Nightmaren, who was marvelling at how neatly the golden name of NiGHTS was imprinted onto the door. "Anyway, we shouldn't waste much time on trivial matters. There's still a lot you need to know before you can become a part of the mission to recapture NiGHTS."

SAiNTS nodded slowly, still deep in thought. He gently raised his hand, reaching out to touch the door before Reala felt something silent within him suddenly kick into high gear. The older 1st Class was swift to reach out and grip the younger Maren's wrist and stop him from touching the violet door, so swiftly that Reala hadn't even realised what he was doing before the sapphire-capped jester had given him a bit of a quizzical look. Reala's eyes refocused a little as he looked at his clawed hand which still held the other's wrist, firmly and away from the purple hue of the timber before them. He looked equally confused.

"Anything wrong…?" SAiNTS asked cautiously as Reala instantly released him. The older Maren had a tight look on his face, but there was no denying that he was unsure of why he'd acted so quickly.

"We should get onto other things." Reala stated firmly as he side-stepped the younger Nightmaren and began to lead him to the training arena, which he guessed would be the easiest place to introduce next. SAiNTS was quiet but followed nonetheless, noticing Reala had become as equally quiet and seemed to be back to his aggressive mindset.

Reala replayed the action before over in his head. Why did he move to stop the sapphire jester from touching NiGHTS door, and why had he felt absolutely terrified of the thought of it? He remembered the way his heart had almost gone cold within his chest when he'd sensed that SAiNTS was going to touch the door, and the way his instincts had almost immediately kicked in to stop him. But why? That had never happened before. True, NiGHTS' room had not been opened since the night she had left, hardly even touched in fact. It was just a door, so why had he felt so inclined to protect it?

One thing was for sure however, Reala was _seriously _getting sick of this sort of stuff happening to him.

* * *

For the longest time now, nothing much had really transpired. For the better half of a few good hours, both Owl and Memphis had been feeding off of the obvious terror that NiGHTS had become absolutely filled with over the revelation that Wizeman may have performed his most debatably efficient plan up to date. The purple jester was visibly distressed to all _hell_, and hadn't stopped pacing since the possibility of a new 1st Class was revealed to her –or at least pacing in her own, gracefully floating sort of way. If there was any doubt in her mind that the appearance of Memphis and his rare Red Ideya meant a fight with Wizeman the Wicked was dawning, it had been undoubtedly destroyed. Wizeman had never done anything this drastic in order to win their constant war, but now it seemed he was truly on his last limb if he'd taken _this_ far of a measure towards victory.

And boy, Wizeman must have been _desperate_ to go to these lengths.

She could only imagine that her decision to revolt all those years ago would have caused Wizeman to forbid the creation of any other 1st Classes ever again. NiGHTS understood that Wizeman was in no way a fool; he was incredibly intelligent and would have known that the creation of a new 1st Class Nightmaren would have originally been too risky. If there were two 1st Classes with the ability to Dualize with visitors there to oppose him, Wizeman must have understood that he would no longer be able to hold his own. Surely he must have known that…

But if he was well aware of this fact… then just what the hell had gotten into him?

She couldn't be silent anymore, and so turned to both Owl and Memphis with an obvious frustration building in her expression. "Ugh, this doesn't make any sense! Have I gone daffy or something? Just what the hell is Wizeman thinking, creating a new 1st Class?!" She folded her arms across her chest indignantly and aimed her glare out towards the dark ocean of Nightmare. She hoped that wherever Wizeman was, he could somehow feel her anger burning into him.

Owl frowned and fanned his coffee coloured feathers at her a little, though it went rather unnoticed by the now frustrated jester. "Now now NiGHTS, let's just try to look at this from all angles. There's no use exhausting yourself and wasting energy on useless anger." NiGHTS seemed to huff a little as she continued to land her eyes anywhere but on the two. She hated being this way, she hated having to let her fears and insecurities about the god transform into frustration. Why? Why couldn't Wizeman ever just… give up, and let her go? All she wanted was to live in the light, to be free of his nightmarish (no pun intended) oppression. In fact, if she could have it her way, she would make it that none of the Nightmaren Army would have to be ruled over in such a harsh manner. In her perfect world, there would be no tyranny, and everyone would be able to do as they pleased. She knew the Nightmarens; she'd grown up around them and knew that many of them had learnt their sadistic personalities and were not naturally evil creations. Because of Wizeman, a lot of her brothers and sisters had been taught only of anger, brutality and that the only way to survive was to fight or die. And she knew better than anyone that it didn't have to be that way.

One day… when Wizeman was finally defeated, maybe the world would then know peace. Maybe then they could all live as individuals with their own freedom. And maybe then… Reala and her could…

NiGHTS mind seem to short-circuit at that, her cyan eyes growing wide with confusion and realization. If her mind hadn't of lost track of itself… what would have been the end of that sentence?

"So the obvious point here is that this whole situation is bad." Memphis stood and walked over to NiGHTS, noticing a slightly unnerved look on her face. Though inside the purple jester was thankful the pale haired human had offered some distraction from… wherever she'd been heading with that. Looking up at the graceful Nightmaren, his teal eyes were filled with a sense of bravery. A bravery that was more than worthy of allowing this human the possession of the Red Ideya. "And, if that is the case, I'd like to do whatever I can to help you. Because you've helped me, and it's the least I can do."

NiGHTS looked at the human for a long while, with eyes that were both astonished and fascinated. The fact Memphis had displayed such a sense of determination over something she knew he had no real idea about left her speechless. In that moment, she had to wonder about humans. Were they foolish, or noble? They possessed bravery without fault, and courage beyond awareness. She knew the danger there was in defending Nightopia from Wizeman, and Memphis must have known judging by her bad reactions thus far that it wasn't exactly going to be a walk in the park. Yet his eyes refused to deceive her in his determination to help. There he was, a being with his own limitations of death in a world that he had very little idea about, and offering his support in a war that was not his own. The other Visitors that had stood up against Wizeman were all naïve in their youth; they had never truly understood the dangers of such sacrifice. But in the worn, teal eyes of the adult before her, which possessed a sense of time beyond his years and the exhaustion of it to only weigh him down, something told her he was aware of the risk. The _real _risk.

Yet he was still willing to help someone like her.

NiGHTS, trying not to draw attention to the guilty ache that had grown in her chest, gave a bit of a thankful, though however wry smile to the blonde male. "What do you mean I helped you? If anything you've been helping me ever since you came to this world."

The man grinned gently looking away for a moment, seemingly considering something that was silent to the lively energy of the world around him. After a while he let out a small, breathy chuckle before he flashed her a deceivingly pleasant smile. "You've helped me out in more ways than you can imagine." She saw something change in Memphis' tired eyes in that moment. A flicker of something that seemed to suddenly emphasise the paleness of his skin, and the valleys of his prominent, slightly unhealthy looking cheekbones to become painfully obvious. The female Nightmaren noticed how quiet he was, and as her eyes of deep azure saw him, saw _into_ him, she realised that the man knew what it was like to be afraid of something that seemed impossible to overcome.

And she knew in her heart that she would not allow this human to die.

"Now then," Memphis stepped away from her for a moment, gently brushing his spindly hands against each other as if to dust off any lingering amount of the deep words he'd spoken before. He returned his hands to the warm shelter in the front of his ash grey jumper and offered her a grin –one that in his own, quiet words told her it was going to be alright. "I do believe a bit of an explanation for what in the blue hell is going on here needs to be established, especially if I'm a part of it." He switched his gaze from NiGHTS to the old, glassy-eyed owl, who seemed to be caught in a spell of deep thought. "You also don't need to sugar-coat anything. I can tell by how much you were flipping out that things are pretty bad. But, I'm a big kid, and I can handle the truth." NiGHTS glanced away in slight shame, but offered him a thankful smile. She noticed the kind, however painful look in his eyes return, and the violet-capped Nightmaren could tell it meant so much more than what he was letting on.

Still, she held her tongue and understood that if Memphis needed to let something out, he would in his own time. After all, they still had a few lost Ideya they needed to retrieve in order to take on Wizeman the Wicked, so the human wouldn't be going anywhere for a while. It would give her plenty of time to learn about the division between adults and children, and just how different their worlds remained apart.

Whether such a carefree being would be able to handle the real truth about the world in which adults lived, the world in which Memphis lived, would however remain debatable.

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**A/N: **At the part where SAiNTS was looking down on Nightmare and Reala was next to him, I had to try so damned hard to get through it without making a Lion King 'everything the light touches is our kingdom Simba' reference.

I almost didn't make it XD


	5. Maturity Isn't Hereditary

**I don't even know where I'm going with this story half the time.**

**Another thing is, if my descriptions of characters (mainly SAiNTS) is a little hard to understand then I have pictures of him on my DeviantART. My profile name is SilverHotDog, it shouldn't be too hard to find :3**

**Disclaimerydoo: Dun own nuthin, cept for SAiNTS and the Visitor dude.**

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Contrary to what most people believed about the world of Nightmare, mornings in the huge, impending castle were surprisingly normal and, unbeknown to most just like any common household on most days. True enough, within craggy, terrifying and frankly absolutely _shit-inducing _walls of the enormous castle, there was a higher risk of the occasional argument, punch-up, stabbing, innuendo-laden conversation, public molestation and any other random act would occur. But, that was just their way of life, and they had all grown to accept the fact they would never truly be considered normal. Life went on.

Where any other sensible Nightmaren would have thrown the heaviest book they could find at Jackle in the hopes of concussing him, SAiNTS simply endured the awkward torment of the hyper, golden-capped Maren trying for the seventh time that morning to get him to engage in a poker match. With hands curled around a warm mug and a bit of a pained look in his cyan eyes, SAiNTS' lip twitched a little as Jackle dealt him another hand of seven cards. With a wicked grin of sharp, white teeth, Jackle refused to allow the younger male to wake up fully in peace. SAiNTS hadn't seen the contents of his bag of tricks yet, like most of the other Nightmarens had, so unknowingly to the sapphire 1st Class he had become the new target. And if he had of tried this on Reala he probably would have been given a black eye by now.

A week had passed in the dark realm of Nightmare, and SAiNTS was finally beginning to slip into a peaceful routine. He'd been educated exclusively by Reala from dawn until dusk each day, learning everything he'd need to become worthy of the 1st Class rank. And, even if Reala hadn't lost his angered disposition towards him and was basically snapping at every little thing he did, both Nightmarens knew he was slowly getting the hang of everything. Inside, Reala had been just waiting for the boy to screw up royally, and prolong his rank of second in command to Nightmare's throne. But he couldn't deny the raw potential the boy had earned from being created as a 1st Class. His perfect genes certainly helped his development, even if Reala constantly refused to acknowledge it to the younger Maren's face. He would never allow himself to simply roll over and give up his throne, which he was certain Wizeman was planning to give to the boy.

He had been fighting for so long, and he wasn't going to give up now.

For a long while, Jackle sat with a grin on his face and stared at SAiNTS, a hand of seven in his claws and a tense, hurried atmosphere about him. The sapphire-capped jester simply frowned and looked at the cards he'd been given, previously abandoning all hope of ever finishing his drink. He gently touched a card, the three of hearts, before giving an unsure frown and letting it go. Fucked if he knew what the hell was going on, he'd never played poker before. Yet Jackle had been sitting there for at least half an hour, shoving cards in his face and expecting him to know what to do with them.

"I… um…" SAiNTS shook his head finally.

Jackle suddenly grew a look of great realization, his emerald eyes widening against his dusky complexion. "Wait, do you even know _how _to play poker?"

SAiNTS mentally facepalmed. He had no idea how people knew how to handle Jackle's obtrusiveness. But then again, he was young and he had no real idea what the others had already lived through when it came to Jackle and his… Jackleness. SAiNTS frowned a bit before folding his hand up and sitting it neatly into a pile on the table. "Well, considering this is the first time I've ever played it and instead of explaining the rules you just sort of flew into the room screaming 'POKER' with guns blazing, no… I'm not exactly 100% on the whole poker thing." Jackle looked at the cards on the desk and tilted his head for a moment, twisting it until it let out a satisfying crack and caused the golden-capped Maren to giggle absentmindedly. SAiNTS simply stared. How did he manage to do that if he didn't even have a neck to begin with?

"Oh, well why didn't you say so!" A jagged grin replaced an absent face as Jackle scooped up the cards and began shuffling them. "I guess the explanations slipped my mind, sorry about that. I tend to fade in and out of my own world from time to time."

"A mixture of insanity and idiocy does that to a Nightmaren." Chamelan commented simply as he walked past their conversation; himself a residential gambler but a far less obnoxious one. It caused the hook-horned jester to grow a darkened look on his face, though still refusing to let go of his sinister grin.

"Oh screw off you overgrown reptile! I'll eat your fucking eyes!" Chamelan heard the quip, but didn't offer a reply. Because he didn't care, and knew it would lead to a headache. SAiNTS simply stared, wide-eyed and absolutely terrified at the rate Jackle's threat had escalated.

"So much screaming…" Another voice lamented with a sigh as both Jackle and SAiNTS glanced around to see Reala with his own white coffee mug in hand. He turned his head to glance out the huge, bay-like window and check the moon of Nightmare before looking down at the contents of his cup. "And it isn't even ten in the morning."

SAiNTS offered a respective bow to the superior Maren, which was acknowledged with nothing more than a small nod. Jackle arrived at a toothy grin and a debatably mocking salute. "Top of the morning to you, sleeping beauty." His sing-song tone of voice only created a disgusted look on Reala's face.

"For your information, I wasn't sleeping in. Master Wizeman had me on guard duty since four this morning." His sapphire eyes glared at the golden-capped male before taking a calming sip from his mug. He sighed, and tried again after letting his frustration over the new nickname slide out of his head. "While you were still sleeping and most likely half-eating your pillow, I was up patrolling the castle and actually contributing to society."

Jackle was deflated by his attitude, but he still accepted defeat with a smile and a simple nod. "Ah, touché to you."

With a small, satisfied smirk on his face, Reala became serious again before turning to the youngest in the room. "Speaking of making a contribution to society" He glanced at Jackle for a moment "…That doesn't involve turning the training area into a pool…" The 2nd Class grinned before giving a courteous bow in regards to his handiwork, waving his hand for Reala to continue. The crimson-capped jester simply rolled his eyes and continued before looking towards SAiNTS. "Master Wizeman has requested an audience with you and I. We should go there soon as to not keep him waiting."

It was a curt order, but at least Reala wasn't outright snapping at him anymore. SAiNTS didn't have to think twice about it as he jumped to his feet and retrieved his sapphire overcoat and top hat from the arm of the lounge Jackle and he had been sitting on. Anything that would get him away from Jackle's craziness for a while was good enough for him. Besides, he couldn't deny his curiosity over why Wizeman would have called a meeting between both him _and_ Reala. For the whole week he'd been learning the ways of the Nightmarens, Reala had been the only one to attend regular meetings. He'd reported to Wizeman once about three days before, but it was only for a progress report on how he was fairing. Up until now, he'd never reported to the god's chambers with the superior 1st Class, which meant today was obviously of great significance.

Jackle waved them off like a madman as per use, and only when SAiNTS had successfully escaped beyond a ten-metre radius of the 2nd Class did he dare to give a sigh of relief. Growing a bit of a half-smile, he turned to the crimson Nightmaren, who remained a pace ahead of him and never anything less. "He's a nice guy and all, but I honestly don't know how you handle his… _insanity, _Lord Reala."

"It gets easier with time, but I still never expect half the things that Nightmaren does." The older Maren sighed a little. It was nice to see that a week of training had caused the younger male to come out of his previously reclusive and disoriented shell. SAiNTS still annoyed the hell out of Reala, there was no doubt about that and it was something that would most likely never change at all, but at least he offered some sort of response to the world around him that wasn't in the form of a blank, stupid look. He was still convinced SAiNTS had been put in place to take the title of second in command, after all, so he'd never drop his guard around the boy.

"Hmm." SAiNTS mused as he watched the passing walls of the castle for a moment. The previous room was more of a common room than anything, on the floor of the 2nd Classes, and they were now climbing the steps that would lead them to the floor of the 1st Classes. Wizeman's chambers existed at the very pinnacle of the castle, where the powers of Nightmare that resonated from the darkness and the moon were at their highest concentration. So sometimes it would take a bit to get there, especially if you weren't in the castle at the time of being summoned. Plus, SAiNTS still had yet to perfect his flying abilities, so he didn't have speed of an advantage like Reala did.

After a while of silence, SAiNTS glanced at Reala. He seemed… less like he was liable to throw him off the top storey of the castle today. The older Nightmaren still had anger in his face, but it was no more than the usual amount, and it caused the sapphire jester to breathe a sigh of relief. He didn't know why Reala hated him so much, but at least he was starting to calm down about his creation. He only wanted to do the right thing after all and not disappoint the proud Nightmaren race, but it was hard to concentrate when everything you did received a negative or snarling response.

SAiNTS took his chances. "So do you have any idea why Master Wizeman has called us in today?" Reala glanced at the boy for a moment. He noticed how in only a week the other had already matured a fair bit, even grown an inch or two to match. He still had a little bit to go before he was the age where he would stop growing and remain as an 'adult' Nightmaren for the rest of his life, but judging his progress over the last week there was a quick conclusion that Reala had arrived at.

He shrugged his strong shoulders a little as SAiNTS watched the scars on his arms move accordingly. "If I had to guess, I'd say he's sending you on your first mission given how well you're adapting. After all, you've learnt how to fight capably and your reflexes are more than responsive enough to keep you alive if we run into conflict. Besides, Master Wizeman believes in 'learning by experience', and with you being the one he's put much of his hope into with the capture of NiGHTS I can only assume he'll want to put you to work as soon as possible."

SAiNTS made a noise that seemed to be a mixture of nervousness and excitement, and his steps gained a definite bounce to them as they rounded the corner of the hallway that housed the great, double doors of Wizeman's throne room. Reala rolled his eyes, but let the kid be. It was, after all, an exciting thing. He still remembered his first mission to bright alter-ego of Nightmare, and even though he absolutely hated it and wished to burn it to the ground (and still did), he had to admit the journey was something he wouldn't forget.

Arriving at the heavy doors imprinted with various insignias, Reala straightened his spine and brushed his front down slightly. He fixed his prized Persona onto his face, and as he did so gave a simple "look sharp, rookie." SAiNTS made sure his attire was right before nodding to the taller male, which prompted Reala to take a step forward and gently knock on the huge, heavy doors.

There was silence for a while, a silence so heavy it was like a mighty beast had just so happened to settle itself on their combined shoulders. But, it did not have time to become comfortable, as only a moment later the ominous, split-voiced reply of the god resonated within both of their minds that told them to simply "_enter". _SAiNTS spared a glance towards the older male, who he was surprised to see unshaken and completely composed with a calm look on his face, behind the golden hue of loyalty. Reala looked up at the doors as they opened only a crack in comparison to how huge the entryway was in general, and with a dignified air he disappeared into the darkness of the room. SAiNTS wasn't far behind and jogged to catch up to the pace of the crimson jester after being distracted by the craftsmanship of the massive doors for a moment, and soon the sound of the entryway sealing itself once more had left them encased in total darkness.

The world within this room always made Reala tense. The darkness here was different from the kind of darkness that was natural in Nightmare or the night of its bright counterpart, Nightopia. This dark atmosphere moved of its own accord, like a serpentine enigma that refused to let go of its strangling grip around any who dared enter. It was so heavy with the incredible energy of Wizeman and Nightmare combined, and there were times when Reala found it hard to stand properly under the weight of the atmosphere. When the room was unlit like it was now, free of the usual brightly burning flames that existed around Wizeman's throne, Reala couldn't help but feel as if the darkness here was trying to physically choke him. He at times almost couldn't believe the power of the dark god, it was… insane.

But, he didn't have time to dally on the atmosphere in the room today. No doubt it would be the first mission he'd have to bring SAiNTS as well and introduce him to the real field of battle, the one that existed beyond the shadowed border of Nightmare and in a brighter part of the Night Dimension.

Reala sighed to himself. The thought of all that sunlight and… well, sugar-coated cheerfulness made his head hurt already. Plus he'd have to deal with the younger 1st Class being an obnoxious kid all day, and he still loathed the idea of playing babysitter. True, the boy had grown steadily in the last week and wasn't far off being fully matured like he was, he'd say give it a month or so, but the sapphire jester was still only young by Nightmaren standards and he had a lot to learn about the other half of the world.

Also, there was the subject of NiGHTS possibly running into them, or vice-versa. And he most certainly was _not_ in the mood for that to happen.

Pushing away his irritation for the day ahead, Reala kept his shoulders strong as he knelt before the almost infinite darkness, head bowed low and a hand over his heart like he knew the god expected of him. A moment later, he heard SAiNTS do the same, and as light filled their closed eyes he knew the god had awakened to greet them.

"_Reala, SAiNTS."_ The overpowering voice addressed them pointedly as both 1st Class' remained low in respect to their creator. A few seconds later, after Wizeman had gotten his fill of complete and utter obedience, the god of nightmares seemingly nodded to himself. _"You may rise."_

Reala stood with his hands held behind his back and his whole stance displaying his strength. His eye became serious as he watched the huge entity behind his golden mask, before finally raising his head and allowing his voice to return from wherever it had hidden itself. The dark realm around him always did have a knack for leaving him unable to speak properly, though he guessed it was from the intensity of its energy. "A good morning to you, Master." All six of Wizeman's hands acknowledged the good-natured greeting with a small nod before Reala returned to silence once more. SAiNTS watched the interaction out of the corner of his sapphire line of vision.

Something seemed… off? He couldn't quite decipher what it was that seemed strange between the two beings. There was a definite understanding of who was the superior and who was the underling, but that wasn't it. There was something else. It was written within the deep, serpentine-slit orbs of Wizeman, and enhanced by the slight tightness contorting them. And in Reala, he could see the same sort of tension within his strong shoulders, keeping him down, keeping him _weak_ before the god. It was… strange. Reala was meant to be the second in command to the entire Nightmaren army, so why was he displaying such… unease?

Before SAiNTS had been given the chance to further dither on his own curiosity about the relationship the dark god shared with not only Reala, but possibly all his creations, the tension was ended when Wizeman spoke. _"No doubt you understand the reason for this meeting?"_ Reala gave a small, almost courteous nod. _"And what is your take on the matter?"_

Reala frowned to himself, already beginning to feel his psyche die at an extremely quickening pace. Maybe it was just his pride as the second in command getting in his way, but he really, really didn't want any part of this. As he glanced up at Wizeman's six, levitating eyes, he noticed a look that basically said 'quit your bitching already'. It only sought to further annoy him, but it wasn't like he could do anything about it. So instead, he swallowed his irritation, took a breath, and spoke through a jaw clenched so tightly he could feel it in his feet.

Because he couldn't ever afford to fall out of line… not here. Not _ever_.

"SAiNTS has displayed a decent amount of natural skill. True to his 1st Class genes, he is excellent at taking in information and reciprocating it accordingly. I believe a mission to Nightopia will hone his skills a little better, SAiNTS is eager to learn but without a real experience to teach him how to fight he isn't going to progress as quickly as he could." Reala sighed a little at the end of his words, and Wizeman could see he was absolutely loathing this with all his soul. But, he had to give it to his crimson 1st Class, he was certainly the best trainer in all of the Nightmaren Army. Even if it was obvious that he wanted to kill himself for having to play nice with the new kid.

"_Good."_ Wizeman drawled out, thinking over the vital information carefully. It was pleasing, to say the least. This proved that he was one step closer to bringing in the traitor and finally putting an end to her silly notions of going rogue completely.

He would have her back in his ranks again. And this time, he'd make her stay there.

"_Is SAiNTS mature enough to handle taking on the capture of the rogue 1__st__ Class?"_

Reala bit back a wry smile. Wizeman couldn't even say her name anymore he was that furious. Ignoring his… well, whatever feelings they were over the matter, the scarred Maren gave a brief glance over to the younger male. Behind his golden mask, his cyan eyes narrowed slightly. "Mature wouldn't be the first word that comes to mind my Lord… After all the boy has been hanging around Jackle every other opportunity."

SAiNTS raised his hand a little. "In my defence, Jackle somehow keeps managing to track me down –no matter what corner of the castle I end up in. It's like he has a GPS in his hat or something…" The warning look Reala had shot him caused the sapphire Maren to immediately bite his tongue, realising he may have just spoken out of line. He bowed his head slightly as he hid the fact he was beginning to panic almost flawlessly.

Everything was quiet for a long time, and tense. Incredibly tense to the point SAiNTS was certain he was about to get thrown off the building by Wizeman himself. Beside him, Reala was hoping that would be the case.

"…_Jackle certainly has that quality about him."_ Wizeman said finally, seemingly unsure of how to respond at first and blindsighted by the fearlessness of his youngest creation. Normally, his rule about 'speaking only when spoken to' was well known and all his creations were completely adamant to never crossing it. True, SAiNTS was still young and obviously wasn't 100% on the rules, but still… it reminded the god of someone.

It reminded him of NiGHTS.

"_Never the less,"_ Wizeman said once more, regaining his composure and sweeping his six-eyed gaze over to the sapphire jester youth, _"I will be assigning you to your first mission that will be undertaken outside the perimeter of Nightmare. It will be a trial run of how you perform not only in a tag-team formation with Reala, but it will also be a progress report of how you perform when put into a real-life situation." _Turning to Reala, his slitted set of eyes narrowed in unison. _"You are in full charge of SAiNTS on this mission." _He paused again. _"… Try not to let him get killed."_

Reala swallowed whatever acidic venom had risen in his throat at that, his eyes becoming narrow and his dark lips pulling into a highly infuriated, twisted sort of smile. "I wouldn't dream of it, Master." His anger was that much more obvious by the way his eye twitched slightly, and the way his muscles wouldn't cease to stop tensing beneath his pale skin. If he was lucky SAiNTS might just die of natural causes, like being suffocated by a swarm of Dreep or something, but knowing his luck –his horrible, _god-awful_ luck, that wouldn't ever be the case.

"_SAiNTS." _At the mighty voice of the god, the youngest male straightened into an attentive stance. _"There is another thing you require for this mission."_ SAiNTS' eyes went wide as one of the six levitating hands of the god came close to him, towering over the young Maren's form by several feet and striking absolute fear into the heart of the sapphire jester. SAiNTS tried to keep himself standing tall, giving off no indication that he was pretty much shitting himself before the ominous, slitted gaze of the dark god. After a moment, Wizeman seemed to nod to himself before waving his hand gently across the space in front of the youngest of his creations.

At first SAiNTS didn't notice anything different, until a small, cool wisp of smoke swirled before his eyes, and something formed on his face. He reached up and touched his hand to a solid item that was moulded to the contours of his eyes and face, and his eyes widened when he realised it was a mask. Wizeman had granted him his very own Persona, which to Reala's dismay, meant he was sticking around.

The azure-capped youth gently peeled the golden guise from his face and rolled it into his gloved hands. It was… really nice, to say the least. Elegantly crafted with an amazing amount of detail along its golden surface. In its centre there was a red gem in the shape of a teardrop, and sprouting from the centre-top was a long, soft-looking emerald plume with its sides lined with two smaller pink feathers. It was certainly a nice form of loyalty, and SAiNTS couldn't help but smile a little at the offering. He gently turned the glistening mask back over in his hands before bowing into it and fixing it into place, and with another small, thankful smile, the young Nightmaren lifted his now elegantly masked face and nodded to the dark god. "Thank you, Lord Wizeman."

"_Keep it with you at all times, SAiNTS. The Persona is a mark not only of your dedication to our cause, but a proud symbol of the Nightmaren blood that flows through your veins." _For a moment, his eyes seemed to become softer, as if he was displaying an almost fond smile towards the young Maren. However, Reala simply seethed in place and refused to believe anything of the sort.

"Sir," Reala cut in with a silver tongue, "If something were to arise regarding NiGHTS…"

"_Do not attempt to fight her." _As equally fast, Wizeman was quick to cut off Reala's curt, however careful words, his powerful and ruling edge returning. _"If anything, keep SAiNTS away from her. I will not have her traitorous filth tainting any of my other creations minds."_

And just like that, he was back to being the underling. Reala sighed heavily, but decided to let it go. Today was going to be a long day, he just knew it, and so getting exhausted over what could not be controlled this early in the day wouldn't serve him any good.

He'd just hold his composure, bite back his anger and pray to all hell that his death would come quick and painless.

xXXXXXx

A new day had dawned on the bright and beautiful lands of Nightopia, and so had a new outlook on life had dawned within NiGHTS. Sure, she was still worried about what Wizeman was planning and what he'd already set into motion, but now that a few days had passed she'd been given a clear state of mind, and now she could think clearly again.

Which, of course, means she was back to being her cheerful, weird old self again.

"Now, Visitor." Her words were filled with mock-seriousness as she floated around with her hands behind her back and her spine straight as if she was a commanding officer to a platoon of soldiers. Or, in this case, one pale-skinned blonde and an elderly Owl who was probably a few screws loose of a barrel. As she raised a gloved finger, both Memphis and Owl watched on in attentive amusement. "You have agreed to help us defeat Wizeman with your rare and powerful Red Ideya of Courage, but it takes a little more than a heart full of gusto to stand up to the God of Nightmares. I should know, I've been foolish enough in the past to try it." For a moment she became solemn, however it was easily lost to a small sigh and a rebound of spiritedness. She placed her hands on her hips and stood strong, doing a pretty good job of looking utterly fearless before she started floating in small cartwheels around their heads. "Considering you only remain with an Ideya of Bravery left, it means the last four are still within Nightopia and… possibly even Nightmare."

Memphis sat up a bit, his teal eyes becoming slightly wide and alert. "Wait, you mean Nightopia isn't the only world that transforms to suit people's dreams?"

Beside him, Owl hooed excitedly at the prospect of another lecture. "Why, of course! There's a reason it's called Nightmare after all. Nightopia is the world where Dreams manifest, but Nightmare is the universal world of, well, nightmares." He took his small spectacles off his beak and cleaned them gently. "It isn't very often that a Visitor's Ideya will end up in a nightmare, but from time to time it happens. Just be alert if it comes to that, the Nightmarens are relentless and at their maximum power on their own turf."

Memphis nodded slowly as he let the information sink it. Afterwards, the blonde man simply smiled, causing his rather prominent cheekbones to stand out again. "Knowing my luck all of them will be in Nightmare."

"Oh come now, what kind of attitude is that to have towards this amazing adventure?" NiGHTS threw her arms out with a massive grin on her face, gazing into the huge, crystal-blue sky of Pure Valley. It was a feature of this world that NiGHTS admired the most, and she was always thankful that whatever world any Visitor created would be able to be recalled. Out of all the worlds that Nightopia had seen and recorded, Pure Valley was certainly one of her favourites. To spend days within the bright and spirited world was truly what she lived for at times.

But, now was not the time to be distracted. The sooner they could get to collecting Memphis' lost Ideya, the sooner they would be prepared for any attacks Wizeman would launch. She folded her arms and smiled at the human. "I'm sure that we won't have to travel all the way into Nightmare for your Ideya, don't worry." Memphis managed a smile and nodded at her, his teal eyes very calm and accepting of the whole situation. For a moment, NiGHTS mused over how tolerant he was of this whole thing, especially considering he was an adult.

"Well at any rate," Owl hooed as he jumped off his perch before giving his suit a small brush down, "we should go ahead and check if any doors to Nightopia have appeared. If so, we can use them to an early advantage." NiGHTS and Memphis nodded in unison, before the violet jester gave a gentle wave to the grounded two.

"You two go on ahead and I'll follow shortly." Behind her calm smile, Owl understood she wanted a bit of a break from the impending trouble for Nightopia and all its inhabitants. The older being smiled in an understanding manner before turning to the blonde human and beginning to waffle on about something most likely unimportant again. For a moment NiGHTS chuckled to herself over the sorry feeling she had for Memphis having to listen to the older being, however her attention soon found its way back to the sky, and she remembered what she'd wanted to think about.

_If a new 1__st__ Class really has been created… I wonder what Reala thinks about it? He would know so much more about this than us… I wonder if I could get him to talk about it, at least give us some information we can use. We're acting on just a hunch, after all._

She sighed and folded her arms loosely in front of her, gently tapping a rhythm against her skin as she wondered what was happening back in Nightmare… back in her home. She wouldn't ever go back, not while she was still alive and kicking, but that didn't mean she completely forgot about the place. Every so often she spared a thought for the dark world in which she was created, and she wondered if everyone back there was still the same.

Because Reala had changed so much, and she was afraid that behind closed doors the world was getting darker.

"I swear to Wizeman when I find that little shit I'm going to strangle him!"

NiGHTS thought she was hearing things for a moment, until an aggravated groan had reached her ears and the undeniable voice was recognised immediately. She turned and noticed Reala was flying around not too far from her, swiftly and hurriedly in a slightly panicked fashion. He was definitely looking for something, and for a moment NiGHTS had to admire how amazing his flying skill were –even when he was searching for something with a sense of urgency. She tilted her head in curiosity.

"What on earth is he doing?" She mused to no one in particular. He hadn't even noticed she was there he was so involved with whatever he was doing, and she had to wonder if he could use some help in that moment. Would he even let her help or would he just get angry at her again?

Screw it; if someone needed help then she would be more than obliged to lend a hand. Even if it was Reala. She unfolded her arms and moved to cup her hands around her mouth. "OI REALA!"

The crimson Maren seemed to flinch slightly before he whirled around to face her, and behind the golden persona she noticed his azure eyes were wide with anxiety. "NiGHTS?" His voice, for once, was not filled with direct hate. Instead he seemed genuinely surprised to see her.

Seeing an opportunity for a conversation that wasn't going to end up in Reala snarling insults at her, she gave a tiny smile. She shrugged and gave him an odd sort of look. "What're you doing?"

Reala's eyes didn't lose their edge of surprise, but he seemed to ease in place little more. Almost as if he was at a complete loss for words over NiGHTS' ability to just be… well, utterly oblivious. There he was, thinking that his wish for SAiNTS to possibly be suffocated by a Dreep had come true and he would have his ass handed to him by a furious god of Nightmare when he got back for letting the new kid die, and NiGHTS was none the wiser. In fact, her cheerful disposition all but caused Reala to become even more exasperated. She had no idea how stressed he was, and he felt as if she was all but laughing at him. After a long moment of silence, Reala's face became irritated as he backed off. "I don't have time for you today."

The answer was of the barest form, filled with a dry sort of anguish that seemed so unlike Reala. "Oh…" She instantly lost her smile and stared at the faraway earth for a moment, before reality did a double-take and came back to slap her in the face. "Wait a minute, are you saying you _aren't _here to try and capture me again? What on earth would bring you back here besides trying to take me back to Nightmare?"

Reala's eyes became fierce as the slits in his eyes grew slightly thinner. "My life doesn't always revolve around you NiGHTS!" His sudden explosion caused NiGHTS to back off slightly, her eyes heavy with guilt and slight fear. Reala had a temper at times, sure, but not like this.

NiGHTS' voice became small. "I didn't mean-"

Reala raised his hand and sighed heavily to cut her off before gently rubbing his eyes at it all. "Just… whatever, I have to go." He raised his head to look at her for a moment, and felt the same pang of strange, hollow pain shoot through his heart. It made his head burn with anger to feel the strange emotion return, but it didn't stay this time. Instead of festering inside him and slowly wearing him down like it usually did, the emotion slowly lifted away to reveal a cold, empty sort of feeling. Those deep, azure eyes that watching left him feeling… incomplete. Like he was missing something very important, yet couldn't remember what.

In that moment, Reala felt as if he was drowning. He was becoming consumed by those powerfully deep, sapphire eyes, that never once had held any indication of hate for him… despite how much anger and loathing his eyes had always directed towards her.

He knew he wouldn't ever be able to escape those traitorous, frustrating… and absolutely beautiful eyes of hers.

As soon as Reala had admitted to himself that he… may have been going about the troublesome, unexplainable feeling in his heart in all the wrong ways, he decided it wasn't important anyway. He had a young, inexperienced Nightmaren to find, after all, and he couldn't afford to be side-tracked by the confusing topic of NiGHTS and where the hell they still stood.

Reala took a breath and calmed himself a little. "Don't think this idle chit-chat has changed anything about your situation. We aren't going to stop until you are back in the Nightmaren army, and we'll bring you back kicking and screaming if we have to." His eyes narrowed dangerously as his words gained a venomous edge.

NiGHTS groaned a little. _"Certainly didn't get that impression…" _She muttered dejectedly. It pained NiGHTS to see her old friend so torn about his life, but his threat only caused her to finally sigh in exasperation. There he went again, thinking about nothing but pleasing Wizeman and causing her torment. The violet capped jester simply huffed and shrugged her arms. "Ugh, always with the abducting." She didn't know why she ever thought they could have a civil conversation to begin with.

"Until next time, when that threat can be turned into a promise, traitor." Reala couldn't stop himself from speaking with a venomously silver tongue. He was over it. He was over having to constantly fight with NiGHTS. He was over Wizeman never praising him and constantly making him feel worthless as his right-hand creation –or supposed one. He was sick of having to train a new Nightmaren, and Wizeman insisting he needed a new partner. Most of all, he was sick of just being sick of things. He just wanted it all to be simple again, like it used to be.

With a heavy heart he inwardly sighed. That would never happen, however. Things could never go back to the way they used to be, not now.

So instead, he would just have to hold it all in, soldier on, and just pretend everything was alright…

Like he always did.

The purple-clad Maren felt her voice wanting to call the other back as he darted off in a flawless line through the sky, but her throat refused it exit. She was so confused, like she always was after an encounter with the scarred male. She didn't expect anything other than what had happened –a few threats, some angry outbursts and of course, no listening to reason. But… it would have been nice to talk to Reala, just once, like she used to be able to.

But she'd screwed up, and he hated her for it. So she didn't deserve much else than their usual routine.

Still, if she could get him to listen to her just once… than maybe she could give him the apology he deserved.

She sighed and reached into her gold, rose and crimson jacket and brought out the item she wished she could just throw away and forget… but never could. All these years she'd never been able to do away with the golden mask, something kept holding it against her heart. Fate had sewn it to her skin, despite how many bad memories it held within. She frowned at the elegant masquerade item in her hands and felt her chest begin to fill with a dull ache. She hated looking at it, for more than one reason. Of course, there was because it was a symbol of loyalty to the monstrous god of Nightmare, and that was a given hate for her. But, another reason she hated it for was the fact it reminded her of all those she'd left behind, and all those who have remained to suffer at the hands of Wizeman. She was out here, in a world without oppression and pain and living in absolute freedom, while all the rest were in the darkest place in the Night Dimension, wondering if the sun still shined somewhere in the world.

She'd been sick with guilt ever since she bid goodbye to the world of Nightmare, her home. And that had never once left her heart since she'd left.

Not once.

Her inner musings were so captivating that she hadn't felt the unfamiliar presence creeping up behind her until it had crashed into the back of her, knocking her concentration out of balance and causing the Nightmaren to plummet to the ground with a bit of a startled yelp. The ground wasn't too far away, so it was no broken bones for the spirited Maren today, to her relief. However, she did suffer a rather painful hit to the backside, and after regaining her composure with a gentle shake of her head she managed to pull herself up into an aching sit.

"Ahhhhh…" She hissed and rubbed her head a little. "What in the world…?"

The cobalt-eyed jester scanned the sky for any sign of whatever had just crashed into her, thinking it was probably a daredevil Nightopian with a need for speed who wasn't looking where it was going. They did odd stuff like that, and watching her acrobatic moves through the skies all the time probably wasn't setting a very good example.

When an equally pained hiss was heard from somewhere ground-level, her eyes fell back to the earth and suddenly landed on the culprit.

And, after seeing the golden mask wrapped around his unfamiliar features, she felt her blood run cold.

xXXXXXx

**Whoop whoop, fifth chapter over and out **


End file.
